- Deputy Governors have now taken their war with their bosses to Parliament as they pushed for radical changes to the law to entrench their roles.
- This even as they narrated the harrowing ordeal they undergo at the hands of the county chiefs.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Deputy governors have now taken war with their bosses to Parliament as they pushed for radical changes to the law to entrench their roles.
The DGs yesterday told the Senate Devolution Committee the harrowing ordeals they undergo in the hands of the county chiefs.
They said have been denied budgets, sabotaged, humiliated, denied access to meetings and goons unleashed on them.
“We are elected jointly but once we get into office, we can no longer work together despite the role we played,” Deputy Governors Caucus chairman Reuben Kamuri said.
He led a team of 11 DGs who gave their inputs to the County Governments (Amendment) Bill, 2024 that seeks to define roles of the DGs.
Yualita Mitei (Nandi), Flora Chibule (Kilifi), Francis Mwangangi (Machakos), William Oduol (Siaya) and Philemona Kapkory (Trans Nzoia) are some of the DGs who appeared before the committee.
Others are Christine Kilalo (Taita Taveta), Robert Komolle (West Pokot), Janepher Mbatiany (Bungoma), John Mathara (Nyandarua) and Gladys Cheserek (Elgeyo Marakwet).
The DGs said they have been kept on the periphery and completely locked out of the county affairs.
“Some of their roles are assigned to county first ladies or CECs. Some governors consider their deputies as unnecessary appendages yet they are both approved by IEBC to run,” Mitei said.
They said of the 47 governors, less than 10 are in good terms with their deputies.
“We want to distinguish this office of the deputy governor, can it be rationalised to give value for money. Why do we have a DG being paid Sh600,000 for reading newspapers?” Cheserek said.
Siaya Deputy Governor William Oduol said he has never attended a single county executive committee meeting since the Senate quashed his impeachment last year.
“Despite the Senate visiting Siaya county, I have never been invited to Cabinet meetings,” Oduol said.
In their raft of demands, they want to attend county executive meetings as enshrined in Article 172(2) of the constitution.
They want a three-day notice of the meetings to prepare adequately.
“Currently, we are not informed or you are notified about the meeting at night,” Kamuri said.
They also want to chair all the county executive sub-committees.
They are also pushing to oversee the implementation of county executive committee decisions/resolutions across all departments.
“The issue at hand is about dignifying the office of the deputy governor, it is not about competition but ensuring there is a clear-cut role,” Kamuri said.
The DGs also want to assist governors to coordinate and supervise departments.
“In most cases, we are not involved in the coordination and supervision. In some cases, there is no funding,” Kapkory said.
They also want to oversee the county government service delivery unit responsible for implementation of development projects.
The DGs also want to attend the governors' summit, IBEC and sub-committee meetings in the absence of the governor
The county deputy bosses also want to co-ordinate disaster risk management, plan and supervise implementation of disaster management and response within the county
In addition, they want a dedicated budget – equivalent to a percentage of allocation for the governor’s office – for their offices.
They want a Chief Officer to be appointed to manage affairs of the officer offices as well as an accountant to manage the vote head.