MPs divided on county board Bill

The Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord) and the ruling Jubilee are tussling over the proposed County Development Board (CDB) law that gives MPs and Senators a role on the use of devolved funds.

Even as a mediation team comprising members from both coalitions prepare to present their report on how to resolve contentious issues, the Cord leadership has warned its members that the CDB Bill is meant to kill devolution and that they should not accept to play ball.

Cord’s opposition to the Bill arises from the fear that Jubilee will be able to impose their agenda on some opposition areas.

Cord has 24 governors and 20 elected senators against Jubilee’s 23 governors and 27 elected senators. It, therefore, means that in four Cord regions, Jubilee senators will be chairing the boards to decide on the development agenda of the counties.

In addition, in some counties like Kajiado, only the governor is from Cord while the rest of the elected leaders who will sit on the boards are either URP or TNA. In Turkana County, though both the governor and the senator are from Cord, the Members of the National Assembly are mainly from Jubilee, raising the fear that Cord’s development manifesto will swallowed by the Jubilee agenda.

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar said Cord leaders Raila Odinga and former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka had cautioned members against supporting any legislation to ‘gag’ devolution.

“Cord is unequivocal that we should support devolution. However, we want our leaders including Mr Musyoka and Mr Wetangula to appraise us on the contents of CDB Bill,” Mr Omar said.

The Senator, who was elected on a Wiper ticket, said contrary to the political concerns, the Bill sponsored by Nandi Senator Stephen Sang only creates a consultative forum for leaders to agree on development agenda.

“I will be the last person to support the Bill if it transfers control of the devolved units or gags devolution. Due to meagre resources, the Bill enables leaders to appreciate where there are challenges. There are also concerns over separation of powers but differences have been narrowed,” Mr Omar said.

He added what the Bill envisages, where senators and MPs are to sit in the County Development Board’s with governors was already happening in Mombasa but the relationship was bad in other counties.

But in a statement, Mr Odinga through his spokesman Dennis Onyango told the Sunday Nation that “at all the manoeuvres around and about governors are camouflaged attempts by Jubilee leaders to stifle and kill devolution and Cord should steer clear of all such moves.”

“In the end, Jubilee’s intention is to kill all independent institutions and leave only the National Executive standing,” Mr Odinga said.

The Cord leader who is currently on a month-long US trip is also concerned about attempts by the national government to pass itself as paragon of thrift and sole custodians of peoples’ needs.

“It ought to be understood that counties are here because Kenyans felt that the national government had failed them for 50 years,” Mr Odinga said.

He was concerned about regular disclosures about how much resources governors have been given, “which governor has not spent how much, which governor is spending on what wasteful programme, yet there are no such disclosures about the national government, except once through the Auditor General.”

Ol Jororok MP JM Waiganjo (TNA) said although there was divided opinion over the CDB Bill those politicising it “are reading too much from nothing.”

“Once they become chairmen of CDB’s, MPs will just be members yet they manage the Constituency Development Fund. This means senators want to control CDF, an thing that has made members jittery,” Mr Waiganjo said.

Mr Waiganjo said he together with some other MPs are opposed to the Bill as members could not play an oversight role and at the same time sit on the county boards.