Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has assured County Governors of the government’s commitment to devolution amid the delay in the disbursement of equitable shared revenue to the devolved units.
“We are here to confirm we truly believe in devolution. Devolution has made a big difference in our country and as we deal with teething problems that come when these new processes come into place,” said the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi in Mombasa.
He added, “We want to reaffirm as the National Government, we cannot go backwards on the aspect of devolution and one of the challenges that we are facing has been that they have been a delay in the remittances to the county government in the context of the county revenue sharing mechanism.”
The Prime Cabinet Secretary said the President had a meeting with Governors in Naivasha and it was his desire to accelerate the process of releasing resources to counties so that the delays experienced would become something of the past.
He addressed the press Monday after a closed-door meeting with Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad at his office.
Mudavadi commended the Governor and his team for moderating the political temperatures in the country by snubbing the opposition protests.
“You have done it so well bearing in mind that Mombasa as the gateway to the country, it’s not just a gateway to the country but a gateway to the entire region,” he said adding that any disruption of Mombasa will have a significant impact on the East Africa Communities (EAC) countries affecting more than 300 Million people.
He termed the Governor to be a critical beacon of stability for the economy of the entire region.
Mudavadi further said that the pressure of the shilling vis-à-vis the dollar is exacerbated by global events like the Russia-Ukraine war that have affected the global supply chain.
He said, “We are also seeing a situation where the pressure in the bigger economies is now coming to bear and interests’ rates are rising and in the process, the issue of dollars vis-à-vis other currencies is beginning to bite”.
He noted that the country needs foreign currencies through the export of agricultural produce, tourism and diaspora remittances in order to bring the cost of living down by having sufficient currencies to deal with imports and that can be realized in a peaceful environment.
“We cannot afford to disrupt the economy, election cycle has its constitutional timings. We just came off it six months ago and need to move forward as a nation, we cannot keep going back to an issue that has been canvassed up to the highest court in the land. It has been canvassed and dealt with fully,’’ he said.
Mudavadi said Kenya is a unitary state and has embraced devolution in accordance with the constitution. He termed reckless statements of opposition leaders of creating a second government in Kenya.
By Sadik Hassan
