Governors angered by ‘insults’

Governors on Tuesday put pressure on the government by demanding an end to “propaganda and insults” arising from their campaign for more funds to counties.

At the same time, Council of Governors chairman Isaac Ruto threatened to sue National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale over claims that he could not account for Sh184 million meant for Bomet County development.

The governors also denied links with the Opposition Cord’s referendum call, and asked senators and MPs to stop throwing unwarranted salvos at them.

Mr Ruto, the Bomet governor, said by telephone: “We agreed (during a meeting with the President) to continue engaging, but unless we see something concrete, we will still push on with our referendum. And by the way things are going, I don’t see anything positive.”

Mr Ruto, who was smarting from an ugly confrontation a day earlier, said the Jubilee administration had not been telling the public the truth on devolution.

'BLATANT LIES'

He claimed that the government had not devolved all functions that belong to counties, had not channelled adequate funds for the devolved functions and was alleging that their push for the referendum dubbed Pesa Mashinani was a wing of the Okoa Kenya campaign fronted by Cord.

“Why these blatant lies? What is it for? Let them speak the truth because governors are speaking facts. There is no single agreement with us that they have respected.”

The governor, while accepting that there was a need to stop confrontational politics, said the Jubilee administration should start keeping its word.

“We will continue to engage but what we need are results so that we can lower the political temperatures. They are not good for anyone,” he said.

Former Cord presidential campaign manager Eliud Owalo said Mr Duale should be asked to resign from his job for the outburst.

“It is no longer tenable that Duale is the Majority Leader in the National Assembly,” he said.

This comes in the backdrop of a feud between Mr Ruto and Mr Duale (Garissa Township, URP) on Monday, at the Maasai Mara University, Narok County.

The clash erupted after Mr Duale told the governor that he had failed to account for Sh184 million.

Mr Duale, who was angered by Mr Ruto’s speech earlier, said: “These funds belong to Kenyans, they do not belong to your mother,” prompting Mr Ruto to walk towards the podium.

— By Bernard Namunane, Dennis Odunga and Geoffrey Rono