County Governors join the fray, tell Uhuru to reject Bill

By Augustine Oduor and Leah Gondi

Governors have also weighed in asking President Uhuru not to assent to the Division of Revenue Bill passed by Parliament.

They also want to be consulted on budget making to include their input on how the revenue shall be shared between the national and county governments.

The Governors through their council chair, Isack Rutto, termed as ‘unfortunate’ the move by MPs to ignore the proposals made by the Senate in passing the Bill. “It is unfortunate that MPs looked at their turf wars with the Senate and not the substance of the Bill,” said Ruto, who is also the Bomet County Governor.

He said the issues around the Bill are matters of “life and death” and noted that the Bill will decide whether “there will be bread on the table for Kenyans.”

“We ask the President not to assent to the Bill until the Senate and MPs agree according to the law,” he said.

Ruto said the matter should be referred to arbitration to resolve the issues based on mutual interests and not ego.

“There is need for MPs and senators to look out for the overriding interests. They should look into this and not based on legalistic stand,” he added.

In addition to this, Governors also want the Budget and Economic Council meeting called to allow them submit their budget inputs.

He said with the current allocations, operations at the county will be frustrated as most counties will be unable to deliver services with the Sh190 billion awarded.