County Assemblies need financial muscle to oversee governors and protect devolution.
This is according to Senate Committee on Delegated Legislation Chair, Senator Mwenda Gataya ‘Mo Fire’.
Speaking after a meeting with their Mombasa County Assembly counterpart, the Tharaka Nithi Senator said county assemblies were facing several challenges caused by financial restraints which was affecting them in the fulfilment of their mandate.
“As we are speaking, some county assembly workers have not even received their salaries because of the county assemblies’ budget allocations. What’s happening is that funds meant for county assemblies were slashed. This is a matter we are going to look into very carefully,” said Sen Mo Fire
Senator Gataya said the committee will forward the feedback on issues to do with funding to the relevant Senate Committee, which is the committee on Finance, to have it addressed.
Emphasizing the role of county assemblies in safeguarding devolution, he warned that weakening them financially would erode their constitutional mandate.
“We know that all county-level oversight in Kenya is done by the county assemblies. If we don’t empower and support them, they won’t be able to effectively oversee the governors. That’s why we must ensure our assemblies are fully functional—so they can do their work and protect devolution,” said Gataya.
Also at the meeting was Mombasa County Assembly Speaker Aharub Khatri.
“As county assemblies, we believe that the senate are like our big brothers and sisters. Luckily some of the senators in this committee were once Members of County Assembly so when we highlight our challenges, they know they are real,” said Khatri.
“We have agreed that they will come back to Mombasa and we will also visit them in Nairobi so that they can guide us in the right direction to ensure development trickles down to the grassroots and that public funds are used for their intended purpose,” added the Mombasa County Assembly Speaker.
The nine-member committee was in Mombasa on Tuesday where they met the county assembly committee on Delegated Legislation in the morning hours before meeting Governor Abdullswamad Sheriff Nassir in the afternoon.
“We were in Kwale before and today we are in Mombasa. Our main aim is to see how county assemblies are dealing with issues to do with devolution,” said Sen Gataya.