He said in the last financial year County governments returned to the exchequer Sh30 billion which they had not utilized. Photo/FILE.
He said in the last financial year County governments returned to the exchequer Sh30 billion which they had not utilized.
The President spoke when he made stopovers at Sagana, Kagio and Kutus markets on his way to Kirinyaga, for the homecoming of Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.
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.
He said the CORD leaders’ call for disbandment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was misplaced, as the same commission supervised elections for all the elected leaders now in office.
“If the election of all Members of Parliament – including senators, Members of County Assemblies and governors who are now in office – was conducted by IEBC, why do some people want to do away with it?” posed the President.
The President said those calling for a referendum have an ulterior motive other than the interest of the country at heart.
National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale urged Kenyans to support the Jubilee Government to achieve its development agenda and ignore the calls for a referendum, terming them a ‘waste of time’.
“There is no need to continue politicking every time. Kenyans are the ones who cast their votes in favour of Jubilee and not IEBC. In 2007 when the CORD leader was defeated by Mwai Kibaki he led campaigns against the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). Now he is calling for the disbandment of IEBC because he once again failed to clinch the presidency,” Duale said.
He challenged leaders elected on the Jubilee ticket to either toe the line and support the President’s agenda or quit.
Local leaders including Ndia MP Stephen Ngari and his Kirinyaga East counterpart Njogu Barua appealed to Kenyans to shun those calling for a referendum and instead support the Government in its development agenda.
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