• Mandago says MPs should stop bullying Senate over funding of counties.
• Senate wants Sh327 billion given to counties but MPs have capped the figure at Sh316 billion.
Governors in the North Rift want the National Assembly and the Senate to quickly end the dispute over revenue sharing to avert a financial crisis in the counties.
The governors, led by Jackson Mandago of Uasin Gishu, accused Parliament of plotting to reduce allocation to counties thus undermining devolution.
“Our MPs should not imagine they are the ones who own this country. Let them stop undermining devolution through underfunding,” said Mandago, who is also chairman of the North Rift Economic Bloc (NOREB).
Mandago spoke in Eldoret during a security meeting also attended by Soy MP Caleb Kostany.
Speaking separately to the Star on Saturday, governors Alex Tolgos of Elgeyo Marakwet and his Nandi counterpart Stephen Sang said the bickering between MPs and the Senate over funds for counties would negatively affect operations of counties.
“Counties require quick and smooth release of funding so that our operations can run effectively without hitches that affect services to Kenyans,” said Sang.
Mandago, who differed publicly with Kostany, faulted Parliament for insisting on reducing the money for counties while at the same time pushing to allocate themselves house allowances.
“The MPs should stop bullying the Senate over the county funds. They want to allocate themselves money for house allowances and at the same time argue that there is no adequate funding for counties,” said Mandago.
He said the Senate should continue to fight for increased funding to counties. Kostany, however, said there was no need for Parliament to allocate a lot of money to counties yet Treasury will eventually not be able to raise the money.
He said while the Senate had recommended Sh327 billion for counties but the budget committee in Parliament capped the figure at Sh316 billion after assessing all situations.
“We looked at the realities, we looked at what is possible before we came up with our figure because even if we give the counties what the senate says and they don’t get the money eventually because treasury cannot afford then we will be cheating ourselves,” said Kostany.