Governors to discuss threat to devolution

By ROSELYNE OBALA and GEOFFREY MOSOKU

County Government chiefs will converge in the city on Friday to strategise on how to hit back at Senators and Members of the National Assembly who are plotting to take over devolution funds.

All the 47 governors, their deputies, over 2,000 Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) and their 47 speakers have been invited to a one-day conference at the Bomas of Kenya to reflect on the achievements of devolved units one year down the line and discuss emerging threats to the success of devolution.

Key on the agenda will be a Bill pending before the National Assembly that now seeks to create a county development board to be chaired by senators that will have powers to determine how the funds are allocated.

The county chiefs have indicated that they are ready to embrace the board on condition that MPs amend the Bill to allow members elect the chairman and its secretary.

The governors and MCAs will be pushing for a further amendment to allow all elected leaders included in the board and channel of CDF and other devolved funds through the same board.

The governors who have been accused by MPs and senators of refusing to be accountable, wonder why MPs want to control their allocations yet they (governors) have no say in CDF.

The Jubilee Government has come under criticism from Council of Governors Chairman Isaac Ruto, arguing that the current attempts by the Legislature to undertake executive roles at the counties goes against the coalition’s manifesto.

The conference convened by the Council of Governors, dubbed One Year into Devolution: Celebrating the Milestones, Confronting the Challenges seeks to strategise on how to confront the imminent threats to devolution.

The MCAs and Speakers of the County Assemblies appear divided over the meeting, with some indicating that they are not aware of it.

Speakers Forum chairman Abdi Nuh, when contacted by The Standard, affirmed receiving the invitation but stated that they will not attend the conference.

“We have tendered our apology to the governors, informing them that we will not attend the Friday’s conference, “he said. He continued, “The invite was a short notice.”

However, Nyamira County Assembly Majority Leader Beauttah Omanga said most of the MCAs will attend the convention since the agenda of the Bomas meeting is to safeguard devolution, which is under attack and dismissed claims that governors were now using the MCAs to shield themselves from accountability.