Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna now wants the Sh80 billion Cooperation Agreement, officiated between the National Government and Nairobi County government, halted, terming it a power grab through the back door.
Senator Sifuna expressed concerns that, from the task force overseeing the process to its structure, the arrangement was designed to subdue the county leadership, reducing the Governor to a deputy role.
Addressing the presser at parliament precincts on Wednesday, Senator Sifuna stated that the steering committee established to oversee the Agreement is very National Government-heavy. Of the 12 members of the committee, a whopping two-thirds are appointees of the National Government.
“From its structure, the Governor will play subservient to the Prime Cabinet secretary, making Sakaja the new Deputy Governor for all intent and purposes. This to me is not a cooperation but takeover.”
According to the legislator, the cooperation flouts the constitution on several grounds, specifically the transfer of functions and public participation, urging President Ruto and Governor Sakaja to halt.
The Constitution, Article 186 and the County Government Act, Section 5, define the roles of the different levels of government, setting up clear boundaries for the functions of the two.
Further, for effective devolution, the frameworks for consultation are outlined in the Intergovernmental Relations Act.
In conceiving these clauses, the senator opined, the framers of the Constitution intended devolution to work and thrive for people, without deliberate regression that would result in the national government purporting to step in to ‘rescue’ devolved units.
The Senator argued that the partnership was “actually a transfer of functions disguised as a non-transfer of functions which was without engaging Nairobi residents or the area senator.
Article 187 of the Constitution and the Intergovernmental Relations Acts stipulate the transfer of functions between the national and county governments, with public participation as a mandatory constitutional requirement.
“From the onset I wish to state that my office was neither involved nor consulted before this decision was taken. Indeed, the so called Cooperation agreement itself acknowledges that no public participation was conducted prior to the signing yesterday, a violation of the constitution too egregious to ignore,” he stated.
“To then provide in the same agreement that it would be subjected to public participation after the fact is not only disrespectful to the people of Nairobi but the clearest indication that it is anything but what we are being told it is.”
Considering the Agreement is anticipated to take effect within 14 days, the Senator decried the limited time for public participation, and no meaningful impact could be achieved in such a short time.
“The Agreement in Clause 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 total.”
Sifuna dismissed the Sh80 billion partnership as a total “ruse” and a drop in the ocean compared to over Sh100 billion the national government owes Nairobi county in unpaid rates and other payables from government institutions.
According to the Senator, instead of “Ruto throwing around the figure of 80 billion as a symbol of his generosity to the people of Nairobi,” he should “direct that all national government agencies that owe monies to the people of Nairobi, immediately clear their obligations which are in excess of 100 billion and let the county assembly of Nairobi ring-fence those monies towards development projects including roads, markets, drainage, garbage collection and payment of pending bills.”
The Senator believes that the partnership is a blatant continuation of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), perpetuating the culture of unpaid bills, weak audit systems and unbridled corruption.
He cited Governor Sakaja’s recent remarks where he harshly criticised the arrangement under his predecessor, Mike Sonko, as an “NMS experiment” that left Nairobi County with a Sh16billion hole in pending bills, vowing never to engage in a similar misadventure.
Noting that the Senate ruled that the NMS pending bills were the National Government’s responsibility, since the NMS accounting officer was the comptroller, Sifuna argued that Governor Sakaja should have used the opportunity he had at the State House “to remind the President that thousands of contractors and workers are still owed money by the State House, and their livelihoods remain in peril as Ruto continues to ignore them.”
Intent on providing solutions as opposed to “making noise” as the President refers to his detractors, Sifuna, in addition to directing state agencies to clear the billions owed to Nairobi County, listed what he would have done differently to steer Nairobi ahead, instead of the Cooperation Agreement.
These include: Immediate transfer of all county functions to counties in accordance to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the late Raila Odinga, which includes dissolving KURA and KeRRA and directing all their budgets to Nairobi county to build roads and utilizing all existing legal instruments like CARA and conditional grants to channel additional funds to Nairobi for street lights and markets noting the security needs of the capital.
“Direct the Treasury to honor the disbursement schedule passed by the senate that legally requires them to transmit county shareable revenue by 15th of every month,” he opined.
“So you see, Mr President, it is possible to remain faithful to your office,” stated Sifuna, emphasising that Nairobi residents want development, but only if undertaken in strict accordance with the constitution. This infact is the very foundation of leadership.”
