Kibaki, Raila fail to resolve county funding row

By Joel Okwayo

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s crisis meeting over funding for devolved governments has failed to resolve the dispute.

Sources told The Standard the talks also attended by Deputy Prime Ministers Uhuru Kenyatta and Musalia Mudavadi and Permanent Secretaries from Treasury and the Ministry of Local Government did not yield much.

"It was agreed a small committee be created to harmonise the parallel Bills prepared by the two ministries," said a source that attended the meeting.

The meeting was told the Bills prepared by a task force commissioned by the Ministry of Local Government used the South African model, which operates a three-tier system of government.

Treasury also maintained its position that the national and county governments should only share money collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority.

The source said it was agreed that the proposal made in the Bill need to go through legislation for them to operate within the Constitution.

Another source close to one of the principals said more suspicion emerged from the meeting after it was revealed Attorney General Amos Wako’s office was already harmonsing the Bills.

"I understand there is a mzungu (white man) drafter in his office who is to harmonise the two Bills," said the source.

He revealed that the drafter had sent a copy of the working draft to the task force, which was currently scrutinising it.

"Why somebody was quietly working on the Bills in Wako’s office while ministers bicker, nobody knows," he said.

Wako is said to have confirmed an expatriate drafter in his office had been trying to merge the Bills. He is said to have been told to have the drafter proceed then present the merged Bill to the two ministries.

Contacted, the taskforce chairman Mutakha Kangu said he was not aware of the sub-committee created by the principals to harmonise the Bills. The task force spent many months collecting and collating information, which culminated into the Local Government Bill.

Treasury has, however, ignored the Bill and instead prepared its own document that brought about the sharp differences.

However, sources revealed the taskforce received another Bill from Treasury on the same issue, Monday afternoon. The source said a letter arrived from Local Government PS Karega Mutahi telling the taskforce to give its views on the new Bill.

"The taskforce was told to present its views by the day after tomorrow (August 17). The letter says if by then the taskforce will not have presented its views, it will be assumed it agrees with the Bill," he said

Monday evening Mudavadi ruled out the possibility of Treasury starving counties with resources as the country moves to the devolved system of government.

He said the Government would arrive at one Financial Bill to share resources between the central government and the counties. He expressed confidence the Financial Management Bill will avert disputes during the allocation of money for development purposes.

Mudavadi said the differences between the Treasury and the recommendations made by the taskforce on how resources should be shared will be resolved. He admitted to having held a meeting with Uhuru and agreed to resolve the standoff.

"We shall agree as a lot of development will shift to the counties after the next General Election," said Mudavadi.

The Minister was speaking at Sabatia Eye Hospital in his Vihiga County where he presided over the official opening of the optical services department. The optical building was sponsored by mobile phone service provider Safaricom Limited at a cost of Sh10 million. Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore and the chairman of the Hospital Alfred Lulu attended the function.