Uhuru seen here with some of the governors when he invited them for a meeting at State House, Nairobi. He has asked those elected under the Jubilee alliance to quit and seek fresh mandate. Photo/FILE.
The Head of State who spoke in Budalangi where he commissioned a bridge on Nzoia River said Jubilee governors are being insincere by agitating for a referendum yet they assured the electorate of development.
“If they are in Jubilee and they are still calling for a referendum, they should resign and seek fresh mandate from Kenyans,” President Kenyatta said on Sunday, adding “If you look at me and my deputy (William Ruto), we are not divided, we don’t even remember that we belong to different parties. Our party is Jubilee.”
Governors led by Isaack Ruto of Bomet are rallying Kenyans to support their referendum push, under the banner Pesa Mashinani while accusing the government of failing to support devolution.
President Kenyatta however, says the government has done enough to provide funds to the governors whom he accused of failing to spend them prudently.
“Let them focus on development and not politics, that is what we promised Kenyans,” he said.
On Saturday, the President told governors to stop hoodwinking Kenyans that they have insufficient funds for development.
He said in the last financial year County governments returned to the exchequer Sh30 billion which they had not utilized.
He said it was unfortunate that governors and CORD leaders were concentrating themselves on raising the political temperatures with their calls for a referendum, at the expense of serving Kenyans.
“Governors should stop their calls for referendum and instead prudently use what has been allocated to them for the benefit of Kenyans first. After that, if they still feel it is still not enough, they can seek more,” he said.
The President has warned that unbudgeted for increase of funds to counties would overburden Kenyans with taxations to bridge the deficit.
“There is time for politicking and time to work. We don’t want to put our country in a perpetually political mood, what we require as leaders is for us to discuss and agree on what is necessary for our people,” President Kenyatta said.
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