While battle for national supremacy continuous to take centre stage with millions of youths being seen to have aligned with youthful parliamentarians including Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, the duo has accused President William Ruto of what they term ‘power grab’ of rich Nairobi County resources
Addressing media at parliament buildings on Wednesday, the legislators demanded public participation and adherence to the constitution if there is any need of sharing national government taking part of functions domiciled within the county government
In particular, Sifuna disputed the Ksh.80 billion cooperation agreement between Ruto’s Government and Nairobi City County Government, citing legal breaches of the constitution and avoidance of public participation neither his office
He also questioned the 14-day window provided to subject the agreement to public participation, noting that it is a very brief period and is a mere disrespect to Nairobi residents
‘’The agreement in Clause 6.2 in fact anticipates the outcome of the proposed public participation, limiting it to “amendments” and forgetting that the people in their righteous might have the option of rejecting the whole arrangement in totality,” he noted
While taking swipe on the composition of the steering committee citing that it is uneven since most of its members are in the national government. Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi is the chair, and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja is the vice chair.
He reckons that the agreement is a takeover guised under a development agreement.
“Of the 12 members of the committee, a whopping two-thirds are appointees of the national government. From its structure, the Governor will be subservient to the Prime Cabinet Secretary, making Sakaja the new Deputy Governor for all intents and purposes,” he noted.
Senator Sifuna opined that there are Constitutional and legal ways to channel funds to specific counties in recognition of their unique needs, and the national government should have channelled resources without being directly involve
He therefore recommended an alternative model to achieve development in Nairobi, including the clearing of all debts owed by the National Government agencies, which are in excess of Ksh.100 billion, and allowing the County Assembly to reinvest the money in county projects and payment of pending bills.
Sifuna also proposed the immediate transfer of all county functions to counties in accordance with a Memorandum of Association (MoU) signed between President Ruto and the late Raila Odinga.
The Nairobi Senator wants the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) to be dissolved and have all road construction funds channelled to the County Governme
He holds that the two Authorities continue to insist on doing roads in Nairobi “when they clearly need to hand over those roads and the attendant resources to CGN
his arguments, he demanded that the agreement be shelved and all legal provisions be utilised, threatening legal action if his request is not met.
“If it is not possible for them to consider this request, we will use all available means, legal and otherwise, to enforce adherence to the constitution. This matter will be on the floor of the Senate very soon,” he said.
The Ksh.80 billion — four times more than what it received in the current financial year — will be channelled to four critical sectors in Nairobi.
Ksh.3.7 billion will be used to modernise street lighting in the capital city, Ksh.1.5 billion to purchase transformers for last-mile connectivity in Nairobi, and a total of Ksh.5 billion for water treatment and supply to the ballooning population
His sentiments were backed by Babu Owino who weighed on Sakaja as the incompetency governor who has failed to manage county resources prudently and instead teamed up with cartels to loot it dry
‘The Governor of Nairobi is incompetent and the idea of signing an agreement whether under a tree under the bed or in your own house and present it to state house is trying to say that this work is too heavy cant manage it and therefore help me to manage,” he opined