Raila to MCAs: Stick to your legislative, oversight roles

Opposition chief Raila Odinga has accused MCAs of trying to take over the roles of county executives instead of sticking to their legislative and oversight roles.

"This will save you from blame in case governors and their executives fail to execute their mandate," Raila told themat the Legislative Conference in Mombasa today.

“The main roles of the county assemblies are legislation and oversight, not execution of policies or procurement of goods and services,” he added.

The ODM leader said a clear separation of roles will exonerate elected leaders from failures caused by others.

“Having clear roles will in reality work in favour of MCAs, as it will ensure each team in the county leadership carries its cross,” added Raila in a speech read on his behalf by Kisii Senator Sam Ongeri.

Raila’s remarks come at a time when the MCAs are pushing to have their own kitty for each of their respective wards similar to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

During the four day summit which came to a close yesterday, the issue of ward fund kitty for MCAs dominated discussions, with officials of their umbrella body- County Assemblies Forum( CAF) insisting that their members must be given resources for development.

“You are the leaders on the ground, literally. You live and work there. You therefore have no reason not to provide strong and clear leadership that make your communities pursue a common agenda,” added the ODM leader.

Raila rubbished media reports that had showed the Building Bridges Initiative which was launched after his much publicized hand-shake with President Uhuru Kenyatta is on the rocks.

“The Building Bridges Initiative is alive and running. We have identified fighting corruption and strengthening devolution as some of the issues we should address through the initiative.”