Governors should be appointed, not elected: Kiambu senator Kimani Wamatangi

Kiambu senator Kimani Wamatangi. [PHOTO: STANDARD]

KIAMBU, KENYA: A senator wants the constitution to be amended in order for future governors to be appointed and not elected.

Kiambu senator Kimani Wamatangi has said the position of the governor was a managerial position that called for the exclusion of politicians in holding such a sensitive post.

Wamatangi claimed the many wrangles among leaders and failures being witnessed in counties was due to political machinations of governors as they tried to do all they could to stay politically relevant.

"What we need in our counties are managers and not politicians. We need to depoliticize devolution by ensuring the future governors are appointed and not elected as is the case today. This will ensure only professional managers assume these positions," said Wamatangi.

He said should the country agree to make the amendments, only renowned managers will get the chance to run counties just like it happens with parastatals and leading private companies in the country.

"Almost two years after electing governors in to office, Kenyans are yet to see any meaningful fruits of devolution since many governors are not fully committed to their job. Many are just committed in enhancing their political career and rewarding their political sycophants with a re-election in mind," he said.

On whether the senators were being envious of governors for controlling huge sums of money while they had none at their disposal, Wamatangi said they had no reason to be envious of governors for having a lot of money under their watch.

"Senators can never be envious to governors for controlling a lot of money since after all it is not their money. They are just holding it in trust for the people they represent," said the senator.

Speaking during an interview is a local television station on Monday, Wamatangi said the senators were just playing their oversight role of putting the county governments in to account and called on Kenyans to stop confusing their mandate with envy.

The senator who is a member of senate Committee on Finance alleged many governors had failed on accountability test by failing to fully account on how they had used money as evident from the Auditor General report.

"If at all as a country we want devolution to work and achieve its desired results then we have to think on how the positions of governors should in future be held by professional managers since as things stand now something is just not right," he said.

He called on Kiambu governor William Kabogo to honour the summons by the senate Committee on Finance to answer on questions on queries that were raised by the Auditor General in his report.

The senator challenged the county assemblies to rise to the occasion and hold their respective county governments in to account without favour or being compromised for the benefit of the people they represent.