Senate must enact laws to curb extravagant wastage in counties
What you need to know:
- In short, governors have found themselves at the mercy of MCAs, for they have to seek ways to placate the legislators lest they be sent home.
- How does a Kiambu MCA travel all the way to Israel to learn about dairy farming when Githunguri, which is in the same county, is reputed to be the leader in that occupation in Kenya?
Governor Isaac Ruto is not a man given to lamenting over anything. On the contrary, he is not just combative in his utterances, he always comes out fighting and will not give quarter when he feels he is right and others wrong.
Another admirable trait is Mr Ruto’s dedicated defence of his colleagues in his role as chairman of the Council of Governors, whenever he feels they are being pushed into a corner, whether by the national executive, the National Assembly, or any other institution set up under the Constitution to regulate or oversee devolved units.
So it is strange to hear him talking as though he is terrified of Members of County Assemblies (MCAs). He seems to be at his wit’s end how to deal with these pesky legislators, who have formed the habit of blackmailing governors at every turn.
His greatest grievance is that governors do not have the power to regulate or influence how county revenues are used or even how the money is allocated among various needs.
In short, governors have found themselves at the mercy of MCAs, for they have to seek ways to placate the legislators lest they be sent home.
Says he: “The fear we have as governors and our executives is that we are potential targets by our MCAs who will simply impeach us if we question their expenditure.”
Now, nobody likes losing his or her job if they can help it. But what this admission means is that far from being the over-bearing, power-hungry individuals who tried to act like small presidents in their counties — the first impression they gave immediately after election — governors have actually been reduced to cowering, spineless figureheads who cannot function unless they bribe their legislators.
This does not augur well for devolution, and something has to give.
One of the more serious grievances against MCAs is that they are spending far too much of the resources allocated by the Treasury, and the revenues collected in local taxes and levies, on all-expenses paid junkets in foreign lands “learning” and “benchmarking”.
TRIP TO ISRAEL
This has become a major complaint against legislators, whether in the national or the county assemblies, but right now, we are more concerned with MCAs.
How, for instance, can a Speaker of a county assembly claim his MCAs took a trip to Israel to learn about dairy farming and how to grow pineapples, coffee and tea?
I mean, how does a Kiambu MCA travel all the way to Israel to learn about dairy farming when Githunguri, which is in the same county, is reputed to be the leader in that occupation in Kenya?
And pray, how much tea, coffee or pineapples does Israel grow? If the MCAs want to learn about the best practices in pineapple growing, all they need to do is to drive to the Delmonte plantation two kilometres away from the council headquarters in Thika.
And this not just about Kiambu, which happens to be a lot better endowed in resources than many others. Wastage and pilferage have become rampant in almost all counties, making nonsense of the real objectives of devolution.
Even in Nairobi, which has an enlightened governor, the MCAs are out to make a killing. Although the Salaries and Remuneration Commission recommended that they earn Sh125,000 in sitting allowances, they regularly make an average Sh262,000 every month, using the simple expedient of increasing the number of sittings.
Let us put it this way: MCAs in this country are on a spending high and they are wasting taxpayers’ money with abandon while neglecting all the duties they were elected for. And since, as a body, they cannot be impeached, the only way to control them will have to be enacting superior legislation.
Which is why Governor Ruto is asking the Senate to play its oversight role over counties to curb MCAs’ unbridled lust for public funds.
The proposals being put forward will, obviously, meet vehement opposition, but the move to control recurrent expenditure (salaries, allowances, foreign trips, etc) and allocate more cash to development cannot be wished away.
Counties require better roads, schools, health centres and higher food production. They need legislators who can help them acquire these things, not globetrotters.
