By Anderson Ojwang
Two Kenya’s leading political parties UDA and ODM stand accused of stifling the effective and efficient performance of the county assemblies through the quality of Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) elected and nominated to the assembly.
The previous and the recent impeachment motions in the Senate have exposed the wanting quality of MCAS in the assemblies and explains why most of the assemblies are dysfunctional and have miserably failed in the oversight roles in the counties.
The impeachment motions of the Governors at the Senate have revealed the horrifying truth about the quality of members of county assemblies elected and nominated to the assemblies.
If anything, Kenyans have not only been treated to humor but the bitter truth how the leading political parties of former Prime minister Raila Odinga and President William Ruto among other political parties have taken the country for a ride in the county assembly leadership.
And recently, Raila raised more storm when he criticized the senators for summoning governors to appear before them in Nairobi, arguing that the oversight of county executives is the mandate of county assemblies, not the Senate.
When Raila recently spoke during Devolution Conference in Homa Bay, Raila said such summons undermine devolution by stripping county assemblies of their constitutional role.
“I believe in strong county executives oversighted by equally strong county assemblies. County governments are supposed to be oversighted by county assemblies, not the Senate. It is unnecessary for the Senate to be summoning Governors to appear before Senators in Nairobi.
I believe in devolution; I believe in more, not less devolution. I believe in a balance of power between Nairobi and the counties; neither should stand in the way of the other,” he said,” adding that both levels of government must work effectively without one dominating the other.”
But during the recent impeachment of Kericho Governor Erick Mutai, Kenyans and the Senate, were treated to humor and disappointing and embarrassing moments when some of the MCAs couldn’t articulate in English.
These embarrassing scenes brought the hard question of their competence and suitability of the members in their roles of legislation and oversight as expected of them in the assembly.
For instance, a sample one of the members delivery before the Senate said “There is a member who ask me. Was your vote, your PA vote for you? It was not vote for me, because if he was vote for me, this thing, yes, he has no title assembly. The message of assembly is there, and it is existing up to now.
How can my PA, how can my PA have a stamp, which show Kericho county assembly ? The message is there. If my PA vote for me, you could send me a message which say PA vote for you, but the title is Kericho county Assembly, which my PA he has no that stamp for Kericho county assembly.”
UDA, ODM and most political parties use the MCAS seat to reward their cronies who will pledge allegiance to the party and the governors, as it is currently.
Senate speaker Amason Kingi the senate cannot cede their constitutional mandate of oversighting the governors as it is anchored in the law.
He said the law was clear on the role of the senate which goes beyond resource allocation to the oversighting.
Gospel artist and Presidential hopeful Rueben Kagame criticized Raila Odinga, for abandoning the fight for accountability and shielding county bosses from scrutiny.
He wrote in X handle “I am deeply disappointed by the opposition leader’s position on the oversight of governors.
I am so disappointed in Raila. I regret voting for him in the past and viewing him as a people-centered leader.
He and his team are not just dining with the government. He does not want governors questioned for looting from citizens or for non-performance?”
According to Kigame, governors must be held accountable for every shilling allocated to counties, especially in light of persistent corruption allegations, stalled projects, and poor service delivery in several devolved units.
“Accountability is not a favor to the people; it is a duty. If leaders at the top are telling us not to question governors, then who will protect wananchi from theft and incompetence?” he asked.
Former cabinet secretary Moses Kuria claimed some people were out misuse Raila.
He singled out county governors, accusing some of them of invoking Raila’s name to shield themselves from scrutiny. Kuria said certain governors are misusing Raila’s opinions to resist accountability measures such as Senate oversight.
“Some other people called governors, stop using Baba as an influencer for all those policy changes. Even from his views of saying the Senate should not summon governors, tangu lini? That’s very clear,” Kuria said.
