THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT IS NECESSARY TO HAVE THE COUNTY GOVERNORS BE APPOINTED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA.
Commentary by Leo Odera Omolo.
For the devolution government to succeed, the Jubilee government should use its majority numbers in parliament and introduce a comprehensive constitutional amendment that would make the County governors become the appointee of the President
The present system in which governors of the Counties are placed under the whims of the MCAs is unworkable.
The County governors are the m0ost frustrated lots. The MCAs cannot allow them to discharge their constitutionally mandated duties and responsibilities unless the governors succumb to their whims and vested interests.
The move to impeach the Kericho governor is vehemently opposed by the electorate, while local politicians are pointing their finger at a senior politician in the region who its being all said to be holding night meetings with MCAs inciting them to start the impeachment process against the governor. Once the Kericho MCAs are through with Prof. Chepkwony similar motion will be sponsored against the outspoken Bomet governor Isack Rutoin the same fashion.
THe case in point is the last week’s motion moved by the majority leader in the Kericho county Assembly that call for the impeachment of the hard-working Kericho governor Prof. Paul Chepkwony. The reasons advanced for this action are the most trivial. The MCAs threat to the governor has provoked harsh comments from senior politicians in the region.
A Kericho veteran politician William Kipkemoi Kettienya has come out and blasted the MCA telling them not to make things difficult for the governor. He said the move has no blessing of the electorate in the region.
According to his definition of the present devolution system, Senators are In lane one, followed by MPs in lane two while the MCAs are in third lane. As such let every one stick to his constitutional mandate. If a senior politician in Kericho want the governor out, such a move could not destabilize the county governance alone, but cold as well destabilize the \central government, therefore the Kericho MCAs must leave the governor alone.
Kettienya was reacting on rumors and speculation that an agent of a senior Kericho politician has been receiving money via a local bank in town which he is dishing out to the MCAs abd locally based journalists for the purpose of inducing the scribes to write stories that is tarnishing the good name of Governor Chepkwony. According to an eye witness the last transaction of such money was done last weekend in one of the posh hotels in town.
There is urgent need to have the constitution changed so that the County governors should fall under one appointing authority who should by President Uhuru himself.
In the old constitution, the Provincial Commissi9ners, the Mayors of the local municipalities and chairmen of the County Councils were working in harmony.
In the present system, however, the County governors are at the mercy of the greedy MCAs, some of them allegedly demanding to be paid the devolved money meant for development projects, some want their kith and kin to be appointed in plum jobs in the Counties while other have variety of vested interests such as the demanding that their relatives and friends be given tenders in the County projects. All these are the major sources of conflict of interests and hence increased demand for impeachment f governors. The song is the same from Embu, Nandi, Kiambu ,Bomet, Meru and other places.
The devolution system can only work if the County governors are all safe in their tenure of office and given maximum protection by the Central government. It is even sad that all these are happening when the office of the Attorney General and the Ministry in charge of the Devolution are silent as the impeachment song rent the air. And th whole system goes silent as the governors are being subjected to blackmail and intimidation.
ENDS