Speaker Okode stifles devolution in Siaya — MP Atandi

Devolution did not succeed in Siaya under former governor Cornel Rasanga and might fail again under Governor James Orengo.

This is according to Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi.

He attributed the imminent failure to speaker George Okode.

The legislator spoke during a press briefing at his Siaya office on Thursday.

He said Okode has been altering the budgets approved by the people through public participations and extorting members of the executive instead of providing oversight.

"I think the speaker of the county assembly is the main reason devolution has not succeeded," Atandi said.

He said Rasanga is oftentimes blamed entirely yet there are other actors like Okode who should be held responsible for underdevelopment in the devolved unit.

"The people are asked what they would want the government to do for them during budget-making process. Unfortunately after these consultations, the speaker of the county assembly, at the tail end of it decides to change all the proposals given by the people," Atandi said.

The legislator said in 2020, the people of Nyajuok sublocation, within his area of jurisdiction, wanted an enhanced health facility but the speaker changed it and instead a road was done.

"We said that we wanted Ting'wang'i dispensary to be enhanced through the construction of its maternity wing. It was the only project we proposed but when the budget reached the assembly, the project we were given was some funny road," he said.

Atandi called on Okode to let Governor Orengo run the county through consultations with the people, since it is the latter who was elected by the people.

"We have realised that the person who is changing these things is the speaker of the county assembly," Atandi said.

But in a quick rejoinder, Okode dismissed Atandi’s assertion saying the MP is ignorant of the budget making process.

“The issue of altering the budget is neither here nor there. It is far-fetched, misleading and said from a point of ignorance of the budget making process,” Okode told the Star in a phone interview.

The speaker urged the MP to stop being an alarmist.

He said the complaint, if any, should emanate from the governor – whose Finance executive signs the budget, Members of the County Assembly or the Controller of Budget.

Okode said at the budget making level, the speaker does not have a vote but the MCAs.

He further said the speaker doesn't sign the document and hence there's no opportunity to altering a thing.

According to the speaker, the only instances when the MCAs can remove a proposal by the people is when the public has proposed a project that is not within the jurisdiction of the devolved unit.

The MP's sentiments, however, seem to be in concurrence with those of retired auditor general Edward Ouko on December 29, 2022.

Ouko observed that the assembly had exhibited tendencies of usurping executive powers in budget making and planning processes.

He was releasing the preliminary financial, human resource and governance audit report of a taskforce formed by Governor Orengo.

Ouko further pointed out poor working relationship between the county assembly and the executive during budget-making.

"The review revealed a practice in which the assembly discusses the budget and amends it without reference to the executive. The assembly in making the changes overhauls the budget," Ouko said.

"It appears that the assembly has usurped the executive's role in the budget making process. This can be considered a material breach of the principal of separation of powers and compromises the oversight role of the assembly."

Okode said Ouko should elaborate himself instead of being vague because the governor did not refuse to sign the allegedly altered budget as expected.

He added that he is equally eagerly waiting for the full taskforce report.

The report is slated for official release on January 20.

Okode presided over the assembly in the ten years of Rasanga reign and is currently serving his third-five-year term.

In a further bare-knuckle attack of Okode, Atandi said the speaker and other corrupt characters in the legislature and executive are engaging in malfeasance at the expense of oversight.

"The speaker prefers to be given money so that he keeps quiet (whenever they get information on any corrupt dealings in the county)," Atandi said.

He urged the Members of the County Assembly to remain vigilant and work for the electorate, "without coercion or extortion."

On this, Okode said there is no vote head for bribing in Siaya's budget and that Atandi should report to the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission if he knows anything.

Atandi also opposed the allocation of a whopping Sh700 million for the construction of Okode's home and new offices for the county assembly.

"Starting next month I will lead public participations in every ward across Siaya county, to ask the people whether they have okayed the Sh100 million and Sh600 million to be used to construct a home and office for the speaker," he said.

Okode however, accused Atandi of misleading the public for political gain.

He said so far the assembly has only Sh1 million for the speaker’s house and another Sh1 million for the assembly office complex.

The speaker said they have been saving the amount since 2017 when other counties started to construct the same, following approval by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and the Commission on Revenue Allocation.

“Atandi is yapping for political gain. I think that it is juvenile and silly, to say the least,” Okode said.

We’ve been here for more than 10 years and we have not done this, meaning we care about the plight of the people," he said.

The speaker said in 2014, SRC and CRA agreed that counties can build an office complex to the tune of Sh500 million.

Okode further said even in the 2022-2023 financial year supplementary budget, the assembly has even reallocated more than Sh300 million to the executive, to help the Orengo-led team implement projects.

“Unfortunately, no-one is clapping for us for doing this,” he said.

Atandi is of the opinion that Okode can build a decent house using his own salary and yet he was not elected by the people.

He said public money should not be spent on building a home for an individual who remains an obscurity to majority of the electorate.

"We do not want such an amount of money to be used to build a house for one resident of Siaya, who was not even elected by the people," Atandi said.

"The current assembly offices are still in good shape and beautiful."

The legislator said the speakers home and assembly offices are not a priority.

"Well-equipped dispensaries, employment of doctors and nurses and subsidised seeds and fertilisers are," he said.

Okode demystified this assertion, saying it is under SRC-approved benefits of a state officer, that a county assembly speaker is to be housed by the government.

The house, Okode said, is not his but any occupant of that seat.

"Other counties have constructed office complexes and speakers’ houses. Even at the national government level, former speaker Justin Muturi had to exit for current Speaker Moses Wetangula to occupy his house," he said.

According to the 2022-2023  supplementary budget, the assembly agreed to finance the executive's expenditure kitty with Sh400 million.

The assembly projected that the funds would not have been exhausted in assembly development plans by the end of the financial year.