The Counties Assemblies Forum (CAF) has vowed to reject the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report if counties will not be involved in deliberations. -By Enock Mukoma
While appearing at a media briefing, the County Assemblies Forum said they will seek a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta to urge him to open another window for consultations and consensus-building.
Forum chair Ndegwa Wahome noted in the BBI proposals, 35 per cent of national resources will go to counties and as such, they need to be consulted just like Parliament.
“There are issues that have not been addressed in previous consultations with the President. There is room for amendment of the constitutional Bill. We want the committee to look into the ward development fund. It is unclear what percentage of revenue from the county should go to the ward,” said Mr Wahome.
The BBI report seeks to create Ward Development Fund that will operate in a similar fashion as the National Government Constituency Development Fund.
He also said the proposal to have some Cabinet ministers picked from the National Assembly should be replicated in the counties where County Executive Committee members should come from the assembly.
Kajiado county assembly speaker Johnson Osoi said there are issues they had raised with the BBI taskforce but were not included in the final report which was launched on October 27 at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi.
“Let it be known clearly that MCAs are the ones who will decide if the country will have a referendum or not,” Osoi said.
CAF had formed a 13-member team to analyze the BBI report and come up with a common stand. Osoi, a former chairman of the forum was picked to led the team.
The forum brings together over 2,000 MCAs and 47 county assembly speakers.
