Devolution was never in CORD’s agenda, says Deputy President William Ruto

Deputy President William Ruto.

By DPPS

Kirinyaga, Kenya: Deputy President William Ruto Sunday charged that devolution of resources to the counties was not part of the CORD agenda.

Speaking when he presided over a  fund raiser for construction of  dormitories for St. Annie’s Kiamutugu girls  secondary school in Kirinyaga county , Ruto noted that  unlike  the Jubilee  alliance which had proposed  in their manifesto  40 per cent of  national resources  be devolved to the counties , Cord had   not set any  figures in their manifesto.

Mr. Ruto who was accompanied by his wife Rachel gave Sh1 million for the girls' dormitory and another Sh500,000 for the church's multipurpose hall.

He said, “It is therefore hypocritical for CORD leadership to claim ownership of the devolution agenda, and even try  to stir up the political environment with calls for referendum  to ostensibly champion devolution when in the real sense they want to get into  power through   the back door.”

Ruto at the same time asked Governors elected on a Jubilee ticket to concentrate on development in their counties instead of wasting valuable time planning referendum meetings with Jubilee’s political adversaries in Nairobi.

He said, “The governors have Sh210 billion while members of Parliament through the constituency development funds have Sh25 billion this year which they must put to good use instead of wasting a lot of time in the city planning for referendum.”

Once again the Deputy President wondered whether the CORD leadership would be agitating for constitutional changes from Presidential to Parliamentary system if they had won the election.

Ruto said, “Kenya cannot afford to be a country of elections and referenda.” “We went for  elections in 2002, held  a referendum in 2005,  went for another referendum in 2010 and a general election in 2013.” “This is too much timespend on electioneering at the expense of development.”