Nandi County Senator has dismissed claims by Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o that President William Ruto's administration is hell-bent on destroying devolution.
Taking to social media moments after Nyong'o released a statement making the remarks, the Senator shifted the blame for failing devolution to governors, like Nyong'o.
In his statement, he urged the governor to take up the matter with his fellow governors at the Council of Governors, whom he alleged were responsible for corruption, poor development and greed for county public funds.
"While we want devolution to work for the prosperity of our country, Prof. Nyongo should not personalise attacks against the President Ruto administration," Cherargei stated.
"He should ask his colleagues in the Council of Governors to account for ballooning corruption, poor development performance and insatiable greed for public funds in our counties. They are the biggest threat to growth and flourishing devolution."
In a statement dated April 22, Nyong'o escalated the matter of who between the national and the county government should manage the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF), which President William Ruto has asked to manage.
RMLF, through a council, allocates billions to the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), among others, for the construction of rural, urban and constituency roads. This has resulted in MPs using KeRRA to construct roads within their constituencies without the input from county governments, which argue it's one of their primary mandates.
Nyong'o affirmed that counties should take over the management for devolution to be utilised properly, even claiming that the national government was incapable of managing entities already mandated to them, like the Kenyatta National Hospital.
"The truth is that the Ruto regime has decided to go back to pre-devolution times of the Nyayo era. The 2010 constitution is a hindrance to its primitive accumulation schemes, which will affect not only devolution but the very ethos of building a national democratic and developmental state," Nyong'o stated.
"The Council of Governors and all progressive forces in our republic need to be aware of this fact and to resist it by all means necessary. The achievements of the Second Liberation must not be destroyed by this regime."
Speaking in Ntulele on Sunday, President Ruto hinted at taking up the issue of road maintenance, insisting that leaving it to the national government would end the overlapping responsibilities and ensure effective management of resources.
Nyong'o is the second Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) governor who has publicly criticised President Ruto since the party signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) last month.
His Siaya counterpart James Orengo has, several times, urged ODM supporters not to be afraid to fight for their rights, culminating in protests in Bondo on Sunday calling for his resignation.
"I cannot be a praise-singer. We fought for a democratic constitution where people should speak freely. I urge Kenyans to tell their leaders the truth. This country will go to the dogs again if the kind of language we hear continues," Orengo asserted in one of his addresses.
''If anything is brought to Siaya County, it will be as a matter of right, not as a favour. There is a need to battle for your rights, and you will still have a better country.''
