Munya: Governors do not answer to political parties

Meru County Governor Peter Munya address after receiving, The Report Meru County, containing a vision, United Prosperous Green Model County during Governor's dinner with leaders and professionals in Nairobi at Hotel Panafric on Friday, May 8th, 2015. PHOTO/ JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

The newly elected Council of Governors (CoG) Chairman Peter Munya has criticised CORD for summoning Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma to answer queries on how he is running his government.

Speaking at Nkubu in Imenti South, Munya said political parties, including Jubilee, could not assume powers vested in other constitutional bodies.

“Only the Auditor General has powers and responsibilities to seek such answers from a governor,” Munya said on Monday evening during the second day of a thanks giving tour in his backyard.

The chairperson said governors’ diaries would be crowded by demands from many quarters and divert them from their core mandate of offering services to their people.

“We want to make it clear that governors are only answerable to their political parties on party affairs and not issues to do with governance,” Munya added.

He also cautioned the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) against humiliating governors citing the treatment of Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria during his arrest in March.

“Where the EACC is seeking answers from our members, we have advise that they be given formal summons to appear and we shall respect such requests. We do not want to see governors being handcuffed and frog-matched like people resisting arrest,” he said.

FAILED MISERABLY

During the tour, he said he expected rivalry in his new position. He said he would count on his people to support him as he steers the “hard fight for more resources for the counties”.

Munya said he expected to be branded anti-government and anti-Jubilee for fighting a war that “should not be there if the national government fully supported devolution”.

“When they tell you that I am fighting the Government, just ask them why I should fight what I am part and parcel of,” said the Meru governor.

He said as CoG chairperson, one of the key issues would be to ensure the Health function remained devolved despite the sustained “assault by the national government and National Assembly to reallocate the function”.

Munya said the past model of centralised resource allocation in the Health sector had miserably failed.

“It is clear that the minister for Health in Nairobi cannot police medical supplies from being lost to unscrupulous cartels and it is clear he cannot not know what rural hamlets deserve a new health centre or clinic,” said Munya.

He also said those who expected him to tone down the stance of his predecessor, Bomet’s Isaac Ruto, were daydreaming.

“In many areas there is no going back to the old centralised system where every year there was a ritual of reading the budget, but there was no effect at the grassroots,” said the chairperson.

Saying that civilised states took care of their youngest, oldest and poorest, Munya pledged to revamp early childhood education and pay National Hospital Insurance Fund monthly fees for those over 70 years and all boda boda operators in the area.

He also announced that a homecoming party to be attended by all governors would be held on June 24.