Fight for billions to blame for governors, MPs clash

Road maintenance underway/FILE

Deep-running political interests are fueling the clamour by governors on one hand and MPs on the other for the control of billions allocated to various funds.

Pundits say that the fights were unnecessary, as the law has clearly stated how the different national and county governments’ kitties are supposed to be run. Rights defender Chris Owala, executive director of Community Initiative Action Group –Kenya, told the Star that the fight is not for the common good of Kenyans.

“Projects like roads are easy to steal from. Roads are not easy to audit, especially after rains sweep away sections. The fight, therefore, is not about functions,” he said. 

The activist added that politicians lack the goodwill to align functions as set by the question and allocate resources to them. He cited bursaries as another avenue MPs, MCAs and governors use for political mobilisation, arguing that the government should wholly fund basic education.

“Conflict of interest is the biggest problem. That is why people are fighting. We can’t say there is a conflict of functions, as the law has already spelled out what counties and national governments should do. It has stated that residual functions – unspecified, are handled by the national government,” Owala said.

Recently, MPs began the journey to entrench the National Government Constituency Development Fund, the National Government Affirmative Action Fund by woman representatives, and an oversight fund for senators.

MPs have moved a bill to comply with the finding of a court that lawmakers had no right to preside over funds that have been devolved from the national government. CDF was allocated Sh54.8 billion in the current financial year, while NGAAF received a budget of Sh3.5 billion, which was an increase from last year’s Sh3 billion.

On roads, the lawmakers and governors are currently embroiled in a fi erce battle that has scuttled the disbursement of donor funds and other additional monies set aside for counties.

The two sides are in a dispute over the collection and allocation of road maintenance levy funds. Nearly Sh100 billion is collected by the Kenya Roads Board from the fuel levy annually, setting up the governors and the National Assembly members for a new battle.

While some MPs want the funds diverted from the Kenya Roads Board to the Kenya Rural Roads Authority, governors have said no to such plans and have fought assertions they are incompetent to manage roads.

“Those driving this agenda are ignorant of our constitutional underpinning, which has assigned the road’s function to both levels of government,” Wajir governor and Council of Governors chairman Ahmed Abdullahi said.

He argued that MPs were just being selfish in their quest to seek control of the kitty, which is instrumental in funding road construction projects.

In the current contest, MPs want to manage Sh10.5 billion, a move that senators have opposed, backing governors and demanding that the allocation be included.

Senators equally say their National Assembly counterparts were also only keen on using the funds for their personal benefits, including gaining political mileage.

The lawmakers have threatened to frustrate the passage of the County Governments Additional Allocation Bill, 2025 if their National Assembly counterparts insist on controlling the roads cash.

MPs at the National Assembly have also asserted that the levy fund would only be catered for if governors withdraw a case challenging the move by MPs.

The county chiefs want to control the monies, arguing that they bear the biggest burden, responsibility, and blame when county roads are not fixed properly.

“It is about the constitution, which demands that funds follow functions. Roads is a devolved function,” Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir said.

He lamented that following the standoff with MPs, funds were not flowing to the projects counties are already executing.

“Funds stopped coming for all the roads we were doing. We are now financing them through our internal revenue streams,” the governor told the Star.

Governors have also faced resistance in their bid to award bursaries to students in primary and secondary schools.

The awards amounting to billions of shillings have been racked with claims of impropriety amid questions about whether governors have the powers to dish them out.

Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o recently declined to approve various counties’ budgets, citing the irregular bursaries. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, Kwale allocated Sh500 million more to bursaries, Siaya allocated Sh110 million, Sh490 million in Turkana, and Sh440 million in Turkana.

Narok and Kajiado counties allocated Sh450 million and Sh80 million, respectively, this year. Nyakang’o argued that bursaries to primary and secondary schools –which add to about Sh3 billion annually, were irregular as counties’ functions only cover early childhood education.

The office of the Controller of Budget, however, would lift the ban even as governors argued that MPs were also awarding bursaries using CDF, which they maintain is a devolved fund.

Besides the county bursaries, each constituency got about Sh1.4 million in bursaries under the presidential secondary school bursary.

According to governors, MPs are duplicating their work when implementing CDF projects, creating the possibility of loss of public funds.

“They must be stopped over their malicious attempt that seeks to prevent counties as beneficiaries of the road maintenance levy fund,” the Council of Governors chairman said.

But MPs have dismissed the assertions, saying governors were doing shoddy work while attempting to fix roads.

The lawmakers’ point of view is that in their clamour for the roads kitty, the county chiefs were merely seeking to “make the cookie jar bigger for their looting’.

Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah maintained that the road maintenance levy fund was a no-go zone for governors, saying MPs would not approve of it in that manner.

His take was that MPs want the kitty run by Kerra to avert instances of duplication by counties by purporting to build roads already fixed by the agency.

There’s also a potential battle over the control of funds managed by the Teachers Service Commission.

This follows a bid by the government to transfer the quality assurance function from TSC to the Ministry of Education. TSC’s budget for the current year is to the tune of about Sh400 billion, with the ministry keen on taking up a chunk of the same