No need to waste billions of money on referendum, says DP Ruto

Deputy President William Ruto has dismissed Raila’s proposal of splitting Kenya into 14 new administrative units emphasising the need to bolster and enhance the current devolution system.

The deputy President advised opposition leader Raila Odinga to use the current Constitution in strengthening devolution.

Ruto was responding to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga who, on Wednesday proposed the retention of the current counties, the 14 blocs and regional governments with a clear revenue-sharing formula, wants the country to adopt a three-tier government. He was addressing the Fifth Devolution Conference in Kakamega County

Speaking during the ongoing devolution conference in Kakamega Thursday morning, Ruto opposed the calls for a referendum, adding that the issues can be resolved without using billions in a referendum.

Ruto urged county governors to develop and maintain a good working relations with their deputies and members of county assemblies (MCAs).

“You may clash with MCA's but we must engage with them because they are a crucial element of devolution,” the deputy president told the governors.

He at the same time mentioned some of the challenges deputy governors go through, saying that it’s not easy to work as a deputy since one has to balance between personal ambitions and serving the boss.

“Deputy Governors are a critical component of governance in counties. Being a Deputy is difficult as you have to balance between your ambition and serving your boss. Supporting your Governor is not a sign of weakness but strength,” said Ruto.

Ruto cautioned MCAs not to exaggerate expenditure through corrupt means and awarding tenders unfairly but to strictly adhere to their oversight role.

“The best way to support a government is to criticise it when it's wrong. So governors must not feel bad when criticised by MCAs or when they don't get their way,” he said.

The deputy president praised Devolution, saying it was driving Kenya to high places. He said devolution had been successful since 2013 and the national government was committed to supporting counties and so far more than Sh1 trillion had been disbursed to counties.

He at the same time urged county governments to focus on service delivery in order to achieve set goals for both county and national government. Defending the national government about allegations of delay in release of funds, the DP said government had always ensured all devolved funds reached counties before end of each financial year and it had not been the intention of government to withhold funds meant for counties.

The DP urged counties to improve on ensuring proper documentation was done on resources that they spent to avoid the negative publicity that comes from Auditor General's reports because of missing documents. He also admitted that delay by counties in establishing effective internal audit departments to strengthen internal control mechanisms was a serious challenge.

On Wednesday Raila told delegates at the Fifth Devolution Conference in Kakamega it was time the country revisited the structure of governance to address the issue of economic viability of counties.

This is the latest proposal by the Opposition leader to change the Constitution and bring back issues left out from an earlier draft constitution (Bomas), which divided Kenya into 14 regions, each made up of several districts.

“It is time to recover this original spirit. My proposal is that we adopt a three-tier system that retains the current counties, create regional or provincial governments, and retain the national government with a very clear formula for revenue sharing,” Raila said in his keynote address at the conference.