Jubilee government out to frustrate devolution, claims Oparanya

By LUKE ANAMI

A delay to release funds meant for counties and failure to pay civil servants salaries is a ploy to kill devolution, an elected official has said.

Kakamega County Governor Wycliffe Oparanya (pictured) further accused the Jubilee government of engaging them in endless meetings, saying it was another plan to dupe them while denying governors the opportunity to implement devolution plans.

“The county governments have received no single cent from the national government. This is a ploy to kill devolution, but we will resist it,” Oparanya said on Saturday in Malava during the burial of the late Reuben Sikolia, a former ODM chairman.

He assured the public that the best way to ensure that county government works is to empower it through a referendum. “The county has unveiled its budget but there are no funds to implement it. We will go ahead to collect one million signatures to amend this Constitution and give more money to the counties if this Jubilee government does not watch out,” he warned.

Oparanya lashed out at the government for engaging governors in endless meetings that he said only served to slow them down. “We have been invited to another meeting by the President next week yet there is nothing substantial that comes out of those meetings,” he said.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale claimed there were plans to grant Kiambu and Nakuru more devolved funds than Kakamega County.

Second largest

This, he said, was against the Commission for Revenue Allocation formula that ranked Kakamega the second largest after Nairobi County.

 “There was an attempt on the Bill that was brought before the Senate for allocation of revenue to various counties to give Kiambu and Nakuru more money than Kakamega and yet all Kenyans know that Kakamega is bigger, poorer and larger than Kiambu and Nakuru,” Khalwale said. “We are warning the Treasury not to give more funds to counties than what was allocated by CRA.”