Thursday, November 5, 2020 – Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) across Kenya have issued a raft of demands they want included in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report for them to guarantee support for the document.
Through the County Assemblies Forum (CAF) which has formed a special task force aimed at ensuring the voice of MCAs is heard by the BBI steering committee, the MCAs want county assemblies given autonomy or else they will reject the document.
Led by the forum’s Chairman, Johnson Osoi, and the boss of the taskforce Ndegwa Wahome, the MCAs also pushed for the expansion of the Senate’s powers as a watchdog of devolution.
According to Osoi, they want their Houses given access and control of their kitty for them to be able to perform oversight roles over governors, who currently control country resources which include allocations made to county assemblies.
“The BBI should insulate county assemblies’ budgets from arbitrary or politically motivated interference by the county executive to kill the oversight role of the assemblies.”
“This is the only way we can ensure the constitutionally provided mandate of oversight by MCAs is effective.”
“We recommend a comprehensive scientific costing of devolved and national functions and the devolved functions are followed by funds on a pro-rata basis from the shareable national revenue,” said Osoi, who doubles up as Speaker of Kajiado County Assembly.
They now want to meet with President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga to tell them their concerns or they shoot down the BBI report.
E! News Blog
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