A clash is looming between the two Deputy Prime Ministers Uhuru Kenyatta and Musalia Mudavadi over whose ministry will be in charge of the billions of shillings to be devolved to the counties.Musalia is the Local Government minister and Uhuru the Finance minister. Their ministries are at loggerheads following the publication of the crucial Public Financial Management Bill.
The Bill, whose objective is the management of public finances at the national and county government levels, was prepared by the Treasury. However, the Local Government has through a task force chaired by Mutakha Kangu developed its own Bill on the same issue titled the County Governments Financial Management Bill, 2011. This has created tensions between the two ministries.
The Bill drafted by the Kangu task force proposes that the Local Government ministry will have control over the 15 per cent of the national budget which will be devolved to the county governments as per the new constitution. The bill drafted by Treasury proposes that this allocation be controlled by the Treasury.
Uhuru wants one legislation dealing with the budgets of both the central and county governments with Treasury having control of the funds for the counties. National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende has now invited all the MPs to a two-day Naivasha retreat which starts today to scrutinise the two Bills.
Yesterday the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee chaired by Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohamed summoned the two ministries to try and resolve the matter.
Sources told the Star that Treasury expressed fears that Mudavadi was trying to introduce financial federalism which would have counties independently manage the resources allocated to them from the national budget and even borrow funds without reference to the Treasury.
Finance ministry experts led by permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua who appeared before the committee said the intention of the Kangu Bill was to introduce majimbo through the back door. “We should avoid a situation where we want to introduce a bad law to divide the country. Let us put in place a legislation that will make us hold together,” Kinyua told the committee.
He criticized the proposal to have two separate laws and accused Mudavadi of trying to usurp the powers of the Treasury. Kinyua said that issues of financial management in the country belong to the Finance ministry. “In as much as Mudavadi says he has been minister for Finance, as far as I am concerned, he is a layman when it comes to this issue,” Kinyua said.
Kinyua wondered why Mudavadi was supporting the enactment of two laws dealing with the same issue and urged Parliament to support the Bill drafted by Treasury.
Dr Kamau Thuge who is a consultant seconded to the Treasury from the IMF described the Bill proposed by the Local Government as "lacking in consultation, professional opinion, hurriedly drafted, full of obvious errors, below the expectations of international standards and legally horrible." “In fact the law proposed by the other group (Kangu's task force) hinges on no quality policy framework,” Thuge said. He added that the Treasury had spent time researching on its proposed bill and had consulted the public and other stakeholders. Kangu's team is also responsible for drafting the Devolution Bill that will manage the devolved funds.
The County Governments Financial Management Bill, 2011 is among six which the Kangu team has drafted. Others include the Urban Areas and Cities Bill, the Intergovernmental Relations Bill and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Bill.
Kangu denied that the Bill his team had drafted was a "copy-and-paste" of Kinyua's and said his team had taken time and involved all stakeholders in drafting it.
Musalia said he was experienced in matters of finance having served at the Treasury for five years. “It is important that we humble ourselves to the coming changes,” Musalia accusing the Treasury of being rigid to change.
Abdikadir said that it was in the interest of his committee to ensure the two government ministries reach a compromise over the matter. “Our devolution is unique, we should resolve this matter if we stick to our constitution,” Abdikadir said. Kibwezi MP Prof Philip Kaloki warned mistrust between the two ministries was fuelling controversies in the legislations.
Assistant Minister Alfred Khang'ati told the Treasury not to divert the plans for devolution into decentralization. “What is happening here is that the Treasury still wants to control the counties from Nairobi while the law is clear that resources should be devolved not decentralized,” Khang'ati said. Assistant Minister Cecily Mbarire said there was no need for two legislations when one which enhanced national unity would do.
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