Calls for accountability, deepening of partnerships and safeguarding devolved units dominated the 8th Devolution Conference in Eldoret on Wednesday.
Led by President William Ruto, the leaders demanded enhanced transparency and accountability in the management of billions of shillings sent to the devolved units.
“As far as I can tell, it was never the spirit or intent of the people of Kenya to devolve corruption, mismanagement and malpractices to the counties,” Ruto said.
Speaking when he opened the three-day conference in Uasin Gishu, the President reckoned that many counties have become the epicentre of graft.
“Yet many counties have evolved into notorious epicentres of wanton looting, with everyone, from governors and county executive to junior officers implicated in a wild free-for all at the expense of essential service delivery,” he said.
Ruto vowed to crack the whip on any state officer found embezzling public funds, warning that it won’t be business as usual under his regime.
This comes in the wake of alleged massive graft in many devolved units, which has crippled delivery of services at the grassroots.
Since the advent of devolution in 2013, the county governments have received about Sh3.3 trillion in equitable share from the national government.
The devolved units have also generated Sh289 billion in own source revenue over the period.
“I want to say this with clarity. It cannot be the case that we lose revenue, that we cannot deliver public service because a few people decided to go away with public money. It’s not going to happen. It’s not going to be business as usual,” the head of state warned.
The President fired the warning shot even as he committed to combat clawbacks that threaten devolution.
Ruo said he would ensure timely release of cash to counties, push for release of county functions still being performed by the national government and improve their capacity to generate their own income and reduce over-reliance of transfers from national government.
“Delays in disbursing allocations to counties have tremendous negative effects which cascade all the way to the households at the grassroots, leading to poor outcomes in many sectors. There is no excuse for this, and we simply have to do better,” he said.
The President advocated for tighter partnership and collaboration between the two levels of government to improve services.
“In this national government administration, you have a partner and a supporter. We have no intention whatsoever to take over any county function. We will support you to the extent that you want us to support you,” he said.
Ruto pledged to push for financial independence of county assemblies and review the pay of the MCAs.
"I have requested the SRC to give us a proper advisory on matters of salaries and wages. It is a subject that as a country we must confront," he said.
“So, I want to tell my members of county assembly that is a conversation we are going to have and you are going to be treated the same way members of Parliament who are serving in the legislature will be treated.”
Senate Speaker Amason Kingi urged the county governments to come up with own stringent measures to curb the runaway graft.
“To deepen accountability, county governments must be ready to come up with more stringent measures to curb corruption and ensure county resources are used for the intended purposes and for the benefit of wananchi,” he said.
Kingi challenged the counties to explore and adopt novel and more innovative ways of raising own source revenue to avoid over-reliance on the exchequer.
Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru detailed the devolution and successes over the 10-year period.
Waiguru said that despite the many successes, the devolution has faced myriads of challenges.
They include shortage of funds, misalignment of policies, slow implementation of intergovernmental decisions, ineffective management of human capital and slow implementation of intergovernmental decisions.
“These setbacks collectively undermine the powers and functions of county governments,” she said.
