- Coast leaders proposed that the regional governments should co-exist with the devolved units.
- The three-tier system should be created based on the 2005 Bomas Draft.
The quest for a three-tier system of governance is gaining momentum.
During the Mombasa Building Bridges Initiative forum on Saturday, several speakers called for the creation of a federal system of governance comprising regional governments, national and county governments.
heads to Kitui for the fourth sensitisation forum.
Mombasa's was the third BBI forum in three weeks after Kisii and Bukhungu (Kakamega). The next forum will be in Kitui on Saturday.
A resolution of Coast leaders read by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi proposed a federal system of government. It called for regional governments and retention of county governments.
“Funding allocated for these regional and county governments should take up 70 per cent of the national government revenue,” the leaders proposed.
The three-tier system form of governance never came up in the first BBI forum in Kisii and the second one in Kakamega.
Council of Governors chair Wycliffe Oparanya supported Coast leaders' proposal, saying it would boost service delivery and enhance development.
“The three-tier system should be created based on the 2005 Bomas Draft that created 14 regions,” Oparanya said.
The Bomas Draft further proposed that the Executive should be headed by a President, a Deputy President and a Prime Minister. It was spearheaded by law professor Yash Pal Ghai.
Oparanya, who is also the Kakakamega governor, dismissed claims that the proposal is being fronted by county chiefs serving their second and last term.
He explained that the proposed positions would be elective and that none of his colleagues was guaranteed a seat.
According to the CoG chief, regional governments would complement the existing regional economic blocs and would not burden the taxpayer.
Last year in March, ODM leader Raila Odinga, while drumming support for regional governments, said some of the counties would do better if they were to be grouped into bigger entities.
Raila explained that some counties are not competitive because of their smaller population and scarce resources.
Such counties are too tiny to compete or marshal internal and external resources for development. He asked governors to use the constitutional referendum debate to propose the changes.
The ODM leader said the need for regional governments was evident by the efforts of counties to form regional economic development blocs.
The creation of regional governments would not mean the abolishment of the 47 county governments, he said.
Deputy President William Ruto has lately not been vocal on the matter.
Earlier, he had opposed the proposal, insisting that devolution should be entrenched at the grassroots level as opposed to creating more structures at the regional level.
According to Ruto, the formation of 14 regional governments would not mean taking services closer to the people.
Devolution, he was emphatic, should be about effective management of resources and not the creation of another layer of government.