Now MPs plot to ‘tame’ the governor

Jubilee leaders have come up with a plot to tame Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto for what they see as his undermining their administration as well as working with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Cord. Photo/NATION  NATION

By JULIUS SIGEI jsigei@ke.nationmedia.com and EMEKA-MAYAKA GEKARA gmayaka@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, July 27   2013 at  19:44

Jubilee leaders have come up with a plot to tame Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto for what they see as his undermining their administration as well as working with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Cord.

They are said to be particularly infuriated by what they term as efforts by Mr Rutto to create another centre of power in Kalenjin Rift Valley, using his powerful position as chairman of the council of governors.

The combative governor has been lately on the warpath accusing President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto of frustrating devolution and vowing that those who block resources from going to the grassroots will be “swept away”.

The new plot to contain the governor, a highly placed source in government revealed, involves the use of impeachment, propping up senior officials in his backyard to keep him busy and instituting investigations with the aim of bringing corruption and abuse of office charges against the former Chepalungu MP.

At least 40 MPs from the region who have declared they will have him impeached see the governor’s recent activities as undermining the Deputy President’s position as the Rift Valley chieftain.

What is also said to worry Jubilee leadership is that given the divisions in the country in the aftermath of the hotly contested March 4 elections, governors—aided by the resources at their disposal—can create separate centres of power in the country, especially in areas that largely voted for Mr Odinga.

That Mr Rutto—who is embraced by governors from across the political divide––chairs the caucus has made the situation all the more worrisome for Jubilee leadership.

The concern is said to have been further fueled by last week’s incident in Kisii where a Cabinet secretary was unable to read the President’s message of condolence to the relatives of victims of a school bus crash when he was shouted down by mourners. Other government-leaning leaders also faced hostility.

In contrast, Mr Odinga was received with excitement and cries of “baba, baba”.

“We are assessing the situation keenly, and nothing will stop us from exploiting the lawful channels available to us to stop people out to destabilise the Government using tax payers’ money,” a senior official close to the Presidency told Sunday Nation.

He claimed the government was also “aware that Raila had funded Mr Rutto through a prominent Mombasa businessman notorious for funding political campaigns.”

But Mr Rutto has dismissed the threats, saying MPs have no power to impeach him. He also denies meeting any Cord officials. He said he was aware that some of his critics had hatched “propaganda and falsehoods”.

“I have never met any Cord operative. I chair governors from all the counties in Kenya, but I am the Governor of Bomet under URP. Both the Senate and the National Assembly are controlled by Jubilee and of course the Presidency is Jubilee. What is the problem? Isn’t devolution in our manifesto?”

He has also laughed off efforts to impeach him. “Removing a governor is a legal matter. It can’t be done on political whims. A governor is not bound by the provisions of Article 103 which says that a Member of Parliament can lose his seat if removed from his party. It does not apply to governors. I would continue serving as governor even if they were to remove me from URP.”

Mr Rutto has packaged the new administration as centrist, determined to retain resources at core and is keen to come out as the foremost champion of devolution.

“Bureaucrats in the national government are misadvising that money given to the counties in the 14 devolved functions are retained at the centre,” he said. The former Chepalungu MP has faulted the commitment of the President and Deputy President to devolution and has declared support for a planned referendum to empower senators and governors.

The quarrel between the Executive and governors was first sparked off by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s signing into law the Division of Revenue Bill which not only reduced allocation of revenue to the devolved governments but also placed decision-making on funding of counties on the National Assembly.

The senators, who had resolved that the Treasury would allocate Sh248 billion to the counties, are angered that President Kenyatta sided with the National Assembly which had proposed Sh210 billion. They have moved to the Supreme Court seeking an advisory opinion on the matter.

Senators, who felt the President should have listened to them as the “constitutionally mandated custodians of devolution”, went on the warpath, rallying the public to their side.

Initially, Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki and Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, who chairs the Senate Committee on Devolution, had declared their disapproval of the President’s move, an act that caused considerable concern to President Kenyatta and his deputy Mr Ruto.

The two, however, have gone slowly though they did not withdraw the case before the Supreme Court which seeks to determine whether the Senate or the National Assembly and Executive are right on the Division of Revenue Act.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale yesterday sought to downplay the Bomet governor’s headache for Jubilee, saying the governor was within his rights to make political decisions.

“He is not a threat to the Jubilee government at all. He can even join Cord if he wants. He is one of the more than 20 governors. We have channeled 34 percent of resources to the counties in the first year alone. How can that be said to be anti-devolution?” Duale said.

New Director of Political Affairs at the Office of the President Joshua Kutuny Saturday said State House was willing to listen to everybody to “separate 2017 politics from genuine proponents of devolution.”

But back in Bomet more than 10 county assembly members vowed they would oppose any move to expel Mr Rutto from URP. Led by Singorwet MCA Joyce Korir and her Kembu counterpart Julius Korir, the leaders also said at a press conference in Bomet town that they had no plans to impeach the governor.

Additional reporting by Geoffrey Rono