Gachagua get cold reception at forum with deputy governors amid cash disbursement row
The Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has today morning received cold reception from county deputy governors during the ongoing consultative meeting in Mombasa.
Sources at the meet said the county deputy bosses intended to express a subtle displeasure with the national government over delayed disbursements of money to counties that has paralysed service delivery and threatening devolution.
The DP also chairs the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC).
“This was an expression of displeasure with the national government that has occasioned paralysis of service delivery in counties due to delayed disbursements of cash. Governors are having a rough time to deliver services. Nurses and other medical practitioners have threatened to down tools in most of the devolved units. The deputy governors are expressing the feelings of their bosses who are the respective governors.” Our source noted.
Ironically, in his opening remarks, the Deputy President called on county governments to focus on service delivery to Kenyans.
Gachagua urged the deputy governors to uphold the tenets of devolution by playing their role of advising the county heads to ensure smooth delivery of all devolved functions.
Gachagua also urged the cash-strapped counties against borrowing from commercial banks.
“We have agreed that the only way to get our economy to where Kibaki left it, is through tax collection. Let nobody push us into borrowing money from banks at exorbitant rates. The economy has started showing good signs of recovery.”
He also advised the deputy governors against sabotaging their bosses.
“Ahead of the August 9, 2022 General Election, hardly any deputy governor was working in sync with their governors. While part of the acrimony was due to competition of ideas and political ambition, the first and main casualty was service delivery; the victims are the people.” Gachagua noted.
In what appeared to a riot act against the deputy governors, Gachagua added that hardly a year into office, similar scenarios have been witnessed though not of the same magnitude.
“It is a red flag. I request that you focus on rebuilding your counties for the good of the people who gave you this mandate. Keep the eye on the ball.” The DP also implored the deputy governors to foster unity in their counties through helping the governors unify all departments in the counties for smooth service delivery saying the Kenya kwanza government is keen on ensuring devolution works.” The DP noted.
On her part, Devolution Principal Secretary Teresiah Mbaika urged the participants to adopt Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms to address the various grievances.
“I Call all of us to adopt ADR mechanisms to resolve intergovernmental conflict.” Mbaika said.
“While misunderstandings are bound to happen in political leadership, they should not be allowed to degenerate to fallouts. This defeats the essence of grassroots leadership and indeed, devolution -a critical component of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). Counties are a key ingredient to the Kenya Kwanza Plan. We want to see devolution working.” Gachagua added.
The DP has called on the deputy governors and county heads to adopt continuous engagement with the national government as they work to take the country to the next level of development.
He also emphasised the government’s commitment to restore the economy.
“The cost of unga will continue going down. We intend to bring to about 130 to 120 ksh because that is what is sustainable. The president insisted that the way to go is through subsidized production in any case the previous subsidy was not working. We are not going to reinstate subsidies even if they go to the streets. We will put money where it matters.” He noted.
Devolution is one of the roles assigned to the office of the Deputy President through Executive Order No. 1 of 2023.
