Governors take their push for more funds to Meru

Governors on Saturday took their pitch for a referendum to Meru County where they said their push for more funds to the counties would enable them deliver more services to their constituents.

Governors Isaac Ruto (Bomet), Peter Munya (Meru), Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega) and Benjamin Cheboi (Baringo) said the only way to silence the demands for a plebiscite was to allocate more funds to the counties.

They spoke as President Uhuru Kenyatta separately said counties are unable to fully utilise funds allocated to them.

But speaking at Kinoru Stadium after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with a Malaysian investor to start construction of 300 km of roads in the county, Mr Munya said counties have established many development projects with the small allocations given to them by the national government.

“The only problem is that most of the resources are left with the national government. How then do we handle health, water, agriculture and other devolved functions without the necessary and adequate funds?” he said.

HOODWINKING

But President Kenyatta accused them of hoodwinking the public with the assertion that they do not have enough money for development when he spoke in Kirinyaga County.

He said that in the last financial year, county governments returned to the Treasury Sh30 billion which they had not spent.

The President spoke on stopovers at Sagana, Kagio and Kutus markets on his way to Kirinyaga for the thanksgiving service for Devolution and Planning Secretary Anne Waiguru.

He said it was unfortunate that governors and Cord leaders were concentrating on raising political temperatures with their calls for a referendum at the expense of serving Kenyans.

“Governors should stop their calls for a referendum and instead prudently use what has been allocated to them for the benefit of Kenyans. After that, if they still feel it is not enough, they can then come and sit with us to discuss what can be increased,” said the President.

He said the Cord leaders’ call for disbanding the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was misplaced, as the same commission supervised elections for all the elected leaders now in office.

“If the election of all Members of Parliament – including senators, Members of County Assemblies and governors – was conducted by IEBC, why do some people want to do away with it?” he said.

In Meru, Council of Governors chairman Ruto said county bosses will not be cowed and they would carry on with the campaign for a referendum.