Inter-county unity rattles suspicious MPs

County governments have entered a new phase in the devolution process with unity talks the latest trend.

But the initiatives are also unsettling some Members of Parliament who have dismissed them as avenues for governors to create regional political kingpins.

“The law envisions unions among counties in order to promote mutual interests. This, however, does not stop some politicians from criticising the unions especially when they feel threatened,” Meru Governor Peter Munya, who also chairs the Legal Affairs committee of the Council of Governors, told Sunday Nation.

Leading the unity initiatives is the much-touted Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani (Commonwealth of Coast Counties) that brings together Mombasa, Kilifi, Kwale, Tana River, Lamu and Taita Taveta and has been attracting headlines with the spirited pace its taking.

Governors of the six coastal counties are now talking of creating a regional development bank to tackle as a bloc the socio-economic challenges facing their people.

Talks about the inter-county links have also been taking place in other regions, albeit quietly. In the Mount Kenya region, seven governors have joined together to improve coffee marketing. Coffee is a major cash crop in the region and the governors were looking at unity as a bargaining tool to improve returns on their produce.

Similar initiatives have been mooted in Nyanza and Western regions, and while there has been little that is remarkable except the broad policy frameworks touted by the governors at political rallies, the counties could in the future harness their shared economic interests.

Counties in Nyanza and Western regions have been in talks to set up bank, clean-up Lake Victoria, revivive the sugar sector and create a vibrant fishing industry.

Leaders from Nairobi, Kiambu, Murang’a and Nyeri have also been in talks on the implementation of a Sh6.8 billion water project with Athi Water Services Board (AWSB). The water project is intended to benefit residents of Nairobi County by injecting into Ndaka-ini dam 142,000 cubic meters daily once it is completed.

It is not just the need to harness shared economic activities that is driving the counties to think blocs. Politics is also in the cards.

For instance, Meru, Isiolo, Tharaka Nithi and Samburu counties (Upper Eastern counties) formed a forum to solve the protracted border disputes among them.

REALISATION OF OBJECTIVES

The Inter-Governmental Relations Act, 2012, provides a framework for consultation and co-operation amongst county governments to facilitate the realisation of the objectives and principles of devolution provided for under Articles 174 and 175 of the Constitution.

Dr Mutakha Kangu, who in 2011 chaired the task force on devolved government of Kenya, which came up with the modalities to operationalise the counties, had advocated for inter-dependence and co-operation among the counties and between counties and the national government, instead of absolute autonomy.

“Co-operative devolved government will require that we move away from our usual adversarial approach to issues and embrace a system of consultation, negotiation and consensus building in the running of the affairs of state,” Dr Kangu said in a presentation made at Strathmore Business School on March 22, 2011.

He described intergovernmental relations as vertical and horizontal. The vertical relationship involves the national and county governments working together while the horizontal relationships take place among various county governments.

The defined relationships, Dr Kangu argued, would enable the counties to achieve economies of scale by producing and distributing certain goods and services on a large-scale basis.

But Mr Munya said Kenyans should not read in too much politics.

“It is possible that such co-operation could strengthen certain individuals politically, but I would like to give the governors the benefit of the doubt,” Mr Munya said.

SIDELINE THEM POLITICALLY

Some Members of Parliament have not been very enthusiastic about the unions, which they feel are meant to sideline them politically.

The Coast initiative has, for instance, come in for criticism from some politicians, including Coast Parliamentary Group chairman Gideon Mung’aro who dismissed it as a ploy by some coastal tycoons to dominate the region.

Mr Mung’aro accused Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho of using it to consolidate his political base ahead of the 2017 General Election. “Stop pretending to be the coastal king,” Mr Mung’aro told Mr Joho.

Mr Mung’aro has not been a lone voice as Taveta MP Naomi Shaban also dismissed the union as a non-starter.

“Governors should push for development in their counties first before forming an economic zone,” she said.

Ugenya MP David Ochieng said any union should be driven by the shared economic resources, not politics.

“My basis for supporting the unions is where there are shared economic resources such as Lake Victoria, the rivers and roads that cut across counties and agricultural development. It can’t be anything else,” he said.

For Mr Munya, the unions will also come in handy in assisting the Council of Governors to undertake its functions by providing a local structure to solve any disputes that may arise.