Tussle over devolution laws won't budge

Written By:Halligan Agade,    Posted: Wed, Aug 31, 2011

The group points out that the two laws generated by Treasury and endorsed into law are a dangerous development as it subordinates the county government to the national government A section of civil societies are calling for immediate resolution of the current stalemate between the Treasury and the Devolution Taskforce regarding the County Public Finance Management Bill. The civil societies led by Decentralization and Governance Non State Actors (DEGONSA) accuses the treasury for preparing a bill that seeks to treat devolved county funds as a condition remittance to the counties. A dressing the press on Wednesday, DEGONSA chairman Stephen Mutoru warned that without a decentralized management of funds, the spitit and later of the devolution articulated in the Constitution will be lost. This comes even as the clocks tick to the next general elections which will pave way for county governments. The tug of war remains unresolved even as Treasury in its bid to meet constitutional timelines on the Bill, drafted the National Loans Guarantee Law, and the Contingency Fund Law as the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution consults to harmonize the parallel bills. Mutoru called upon the CIC to conduct a comprehensive and objective review of the bills and come up with a legislative that will not water down the independence and effectiveness of the financial management of the counties. He also called on the CIC to involve the public in reviewing those bills and provide a ha critique to the draft harmonized bill before preparing the final one. But the stalemate on the latest laws on Public Finance passed by Parliament last Friday and assented to by the President still raises concerns. DEGONSA argues that the situation is likely to cripple the operationalization of the new county governments. The group points out that the two laws generated by Treasury and endorsed into law are a dangerous development as it subordinates the county government to the national government, contrary to the Constitution that spells out the distinctiveness but interdependent nature of the two. The chairman further claims that the Government has prematurely appointed county co-ordinators flouting the constitution. They claim the Constitution empowers the governor to run the county government and the new by treasury over funding is a recipe for conflict and will impact negatively on the delivery of services.