CoG: William Ruto a threat to devolution

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga before the Senate Standing Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunities and Regional Integration at Bunge Towers,Nairobi . August 23rd,2024. [Elvis Ogina,Standard] Governors have accused President William Ruto of being a threat to devolution following his remarks that the national government is best positioned to manage the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF). The governors want the President to allow county governments to manage the levy funds, maintaining that the national government had failed to discharge its functions. The President on Sunday in Narok, pleaded with governors to allow him manage the funds arguing that he would be more efficient and lead to improved infrastructure and enhanced connectivity across the country. According to Ruto the overlapping responsibilities between the national and county governments in road infrastructure development had often caused delays and inefficiencies. "I would like to ask the honourable members here that I am aware there is an ongoing battle between county governments and Parliament, especially on the road maintenance funds. If you leave the funds to me, I will fund all these road projects because with that money, you take it and build a small murram road from here to there, and after one day of rain, it's all washed away," Ruto said. In response, the governors, led by CoG Vice Chairman Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri), want the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra) and the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) disbanded so that the funds can be managed by counties. "When the President says he wants the funds released to the national government, in other words, he is skewed towards MPs. The Constitution only recognises two levels of government, the national and county," Kahiga said. He added, "Constituencies are not levels of government. Constituencies are not executive. The executive is at the county and at national levels. And so we would ask the President, if you swore to defend this Constitution, that statement on Sunday does not augur well for devolution." He said devolution is the only thing that allowed Wajir and Mandera citizens to see and touch tarmac. Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o maintained that the Kerra and Kura authorities should be disbanded if the national government was prepared to fully implement devolution. The counties manage health effectively and efficiently. The national government can't even manage Kenyatta National Hospital, one of the few entities in its hands," the governor said. He added, "The Ruto regime has decided to go back to pre-devolution times. The 2010 Constitution is a hindrance to its primitive accumulation schemes, which will affect not only devolution but the very ethos of building a national democratic and development state." Prof Nyong'o called on the CoG and progressive forces to resist Ruto's schemes, maintaining that the achievements of the second liberation should not be destroyed by Ruto's administration. Ruto's remarks may also threaten his good working relationship with his broad-based Principal Raila Odinga who earlier this month accused MPs of sabotaging devolution claiming the legislators were competing with the county chiefs to implement projects that are not within their mandate while frustrating the release of resources to counties. According to Raila, devolution was not working because of the push and pull between national and county governments and the MPs have taken advantage of this to frustrate devolution. "In the current constitution, parliament has powers on matters of budget-making, and now they want to play the role of county governments by doing county government projects," he said. He said it is absurd for MPs not to allocate funds to counties, only for them to accuse governors of not delivering to the people.

CoG: William Ruto a threat to devolution

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