Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has declined to comment on the recent criticism of President William Ruto by Catholic Bishops, saying he will issue a comprehensive statement later.
While addressing the press, Odinga steered clear of the matter and focused on shareable revenue, accusing legislators of frustrating devolution.
Responding to a journalist who asked about the criticism of president ruto by the Catholic Bishops, Odinga noted that he would comment on the matter in a different forum.
“I will do another statement generally, where you can ask general questions. Today is about this issue of revenue care.’’
Talking about the revenue shares, Odinga noted that the division of revenue has created a standoff pitting the National Assembly and the senate against each other.
According to Odinga, this impasse is a power grab and an assault on the constitution that Members of the National Assembly want to execute and amounts to a cruel betrayal of the people and an overhaul of our structure of governance.
Odinga also highlighted that the execution and implementation of programs has never been and can never be the job of MPs without creating a serious accountability crisis in our governance system to the detriment of us all.
“The constitution assigns three roles to members of parliament; representation, legislation and oversight. Execution and implementation of programs has never been and can never be the job of MPs without creating a serious accountability crisis in our governance system to the detriment of us all. The constitution further creates two levels of government; the National Government and 47 county governments with a proviso that counties get at least 15 per cent of the National Government Revenue. The National Assembly must get it clear that revenue allocation to counties can only go up, not down, unless the intention is to kill devolution.’’
The ODM leader furthermore urged MPs to be enablers of devolution and refuse to be in partnership with those determined to frustrate and kill devolution.
“I urge our MPs to be enablers of devolution and refuse to be in partnership with those determined to frustrate and kill devolution.’’
His press conference came a few hours after president ruto responded to bishops who pointed fingers at Ruto’s administration, asking him to stop the ‘culture of lies’.
The clergy further slammed the Kenya Kwanza administration for unexplained killings, abductions, and widespread corruption.
