Governors, senators turf wars is ruinous for Kenya

The simmering rivalry in the devolved units is playing out yet again.

In what has become an annual ritual, 47 governors congregated at the Meru Technical Training Institute for their third Governors Conference in April; a forum at which governors assess their performance in the preceding year and seemingly chart a road map to the future. Although senators and Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) were invited to attend, both gave the conference a wide berth.

The refusal by senators to attend the function (the second time after snubbing the one held in Kisumu in 2015) was premised on the fear that governors intended to use the opportunity to campaign for re-election in 2017, yet nothing at that conference suggested that to be true.

Some senators also felt slighted that they were not invited officially to the conference. And seemingly, it is for this reason that on Monday, senators and MCAs met in Mombasa for the inaugural conference "to take stock of the legislative progress".

To the dismay of governors, they were not invited, yet the complimentary of the roles played by both cadres of leadership cannot be ignored.

Separate conferences where one would suffice only serves to increase the tax burden on citizens. Clearly, what the senators sought to do is to divide and rule. Ideally, senators play an oversight role on the counties. In fact, the Exchequer will release some Sh322 million to them in the next financial year. To isolate governors therefore is counterproductive because MCAs work with the governors; the governors remain the Chief Executives of the counties and executive authority rests with them.

It would therefore be fair to assume that senators are on an ego trip complete with leisure - a massage, a frolic on the sandy beaches and a dip into the Indian Ocean- all paid for by the taxpayer.