• Accuses governors of using health services to punish areas that did not vote for them
• Kibunguchy says counties unable to manage health despite the docket being fully devolved
Likuyani MP Enock Kibunguchy wants the management of the health sector reverted to the national government.
He said county governments are unable to manage health services, despite the docket being fully devolved.
“Governors want to use health services to punish areas that did not support their election and this is wrong because the health docket deals with lives,” Kibunguchy said in Matunda on Friday.
The legislator said the Constitution be amended to give the national government authority to manage health services.
He said the transfer of the quintuplets born at Kakamega County Referral Hospital to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret confirms counties are unable to run the sector.
The five babies were moved to MTRH after one of them developed breathing complications.
Kibunguchy said investing in referral services without first enhancing primary healthcare was meaningless.
“Unlike in the past, our hospitals are always without essential drugs because most counties are not paying the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency,” he said.
Health workers, senators and some clerics have called for the return of the docket to the national government, but governors have rejected the suggestion calling it retrogressive.
Kibunguchy proposed that Cabinet secretaries should be picked from among elected MPs and county executive committee members from elected MCAs.
This, he said, will establish the missing link between the people and the government.
“These people picked from outside Parliament do not know what the problems of the people are,” Kibunguchy said.
Kibunguchy said those pushing for a three-tier government structure do not have Kenyans' interest at heart. He said the push is meant to create jobs for governors who complete their two five-year terms.
“We will only mobilise Kenyans to support a referendum that will reduce the tax burden on them,” he said.
Edited by Rawlings Otini