- He said the 14-day notice by county bosses ahead of the looming shutdown should not be taken lightly.
- Aukot also insisted that the 15 per cent must be released to the counties for them to function effectively.
Image: FILE
Thirdway Alliance party leader Ekuru Aukot has said that President William Ruto's government does not want devolution.
Aukot said this is because the president abolished the devolution docket and failure by the government to increase counties allocation from the 15 per cent of revenue required by the Constitution.
He went on to say that the 14-day notice by county bosses ahead of the looming shutdown should not be taken lightly.
Aukot also insisted that the 15 per cent must be released to the counties for them to function effectively.
"The 14-day notice by governors to shut down the 47 counties is a curious and serious one. This government does not want devolution. The President did not appoint a cabinet secretary for devolution, and it did not increase the allocation above," he tweeted on Tuesday.
"The 15 per cent constitutionally guaranteed is not tafadhali. It must be given to counties to meet their Constitutional duties as per schedule 4 relating to functions of county governments."
The national government has not released funds to the counties for the past four months.
According to the Council of Governors, the funds amount to over Sh94 billion.
On Monday, the Council of Governors said counties would shut down in two weeks, over the delay by the National Treasury to release funds to the devolved units.
Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru said devolution was under threat from the national government.
"The Council of Governors hereby issues a 14-day notice to shut down counties, if February, March and April arrears are not released within two weeks," Waiguru said.
Aukot said what the Ruto administration is doing is akin to how regional devolution was killed after independence.
He insisted that this should not happen again.
"This is exactly how regional devolution (Majimbo) was killed after independence by denying them their money allocation. Their operations stopped, and the regional governments died, leading to terrible marginalisation of large parts of the country until 2013," he said.