Senate to address escalating conflicts in counties
The Senate has expressed its concern over the escalating conflicts between county governments and has planned to resolve the disputes in the coming days.
Through its Devolution Committee, the Senate has identified Kiambu, Kericho, Kisii, Migori, and Busia as some of the counties facing disputes.
The chairman of the committee, Mohammed Abass, said that the escalating conflicts were affecting the spirit of devolution and that the committee would visit all the affected counties to understand the problem and find a way forward.
“We are concerned by the rising conflicts between national leaders and even between the executive and the assembly, and we are keen to resolve them,” said Abass.
The committee has already visited Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties where differences of leadership and boundaries have been resolved.
The Wajir Senator also expressed the committee’s concern over the pending bills, which stood at KES 100 billion in Nairobi and KES 5billion in Wajir, and were affecting service delivery.
He questioned how the figures rose to the current levels despite the counties having budgeted for them, but contractors had not been paid for years.
“Some of the pending bills have dragged for over five years and we are wondering where the funds that had been budgeted for went,” said the senator.
The committee vice-chairperson, Catherine Muma, welcomed the planned meeting between the Deputy President and the Meru elected leaders and added that the pending bills were eroding investor confidence, with hundreds of traders losing their hard-earned cash.
She also said that the committee would be auditing the newly elevated towns into cities and holding meetings in the four cities to establish if they have met the set threshold and any emerging challenges.