Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale on Saturday disclosed that Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga was collecting money from party governors to gain his favour.
Speaking during the homecoming party of Sabatia Member of Parliament (MP) Alfred Agoi, the Ford Kenya Secretary-General stated that the push by Raila to introduce third-tier government was to the benefit of the governors.
"We know you (referring to Raila) have been walking with ODM Governors collecting money from them since 2014 till now.
"In the referendum, you want to make regional blocks. Your agenda is to make Governors happy and not for the good of all Kenyans," he conveyed.
[caption caption="Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale "]
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Khalwale added that the focus should be on improving devolution in the counties rather than adding other levels of government.
"Adding the third tier will expand the cost of running the government in Kenya. We assure you that during the referendum we will stop you on that agenda," he stated.
He further urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to hire doctors from Kenya rather than getting them from Cuba.
"They don't know English, Kiswahili and other local languages, how will they communicate with the patients. Leave the second- rated doctors from Cuba and employ doctors from the University of Nairobi," he explained.
On Saturday, Raila insisted that there must be constitutional change to make devolution work adding that the peace pact with Uhuru was not imposed by foreign nations.
While delivering the keynote address during the devolution forum earlier in the week, the opposition boss proposed a new 3-tier system that borrows elements of the 2005 Bomas draft constitution but retains the current counties along with the national government.
"We need to bite the bullet and revisit the structure of devolution. The Bomas draft had 14 regions and the intention was to have units that were economically viable. It is time to look at how to recover this system.
[caption caption="Raila during the devolution conference 2018"]
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"I propose a 3-tier system that retains the counties, creates regional or provincial governments and retains the national government with a clear formula of revenue sharing," he declared.
