President Uhuru misinformed on devolution, governors say

Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya

The President is misinformed about the success of devolution, governors have said.

The county chiefs believe this prompted him to make disparaging remarks at the state of the nation address last week.

Council of Governors (CoG) Chairman Peter Munya said governors would correct the impression created by President Kenyatta's censure during his address to a joint sitting of Parliament.

"The governing council of the CoG is meeting in Naivasha today (Thursday) and on Saturday. We shall issue the state of devolution report which will put the record straight on the progress made in the three years of existence," said Munya.

The Meru governor said the report will enable Kenyans and observers to distinguish between propaganda and facts on how devolution has fared in this country.

He said devolution could only be equated to independence as it had enabled many Kenyans realise development that they never imagined was possible under the centralised system of governance.

"Recently, we have had politicians at very high level giving their opinion on devolution. But it is only us who have the real picture of the social economic transformation that county governments have brought into this country," said Mr Munya.

He said he was surprised that during the State of the Nation address, the President had lauded devolved units but in the same breath claimed that devolution had failed the test of time.

Munya added that the devolution conference set for Meru town from April 19-22 will present another opportunity to highlight the achievements and challenges county governments were facing.

According to him, the current crop of county leaders had done well in helping devolution take root in the country, bearing in mind that the transition period only ended last month and devolved functions were yet to become fully functional.

He claimed the country was being led into an obsession to criticise, personalise and beat down governors while playing lip service to the glaring corruption and ineptitude at the national government level.

"It always beats me why even the national government would choose to whine about corruption in the counties while it is in full control of all accountability agencies," Munya said.

He urged the national government to deal with graft.