Senator Aaron Cheruiyot Proposes to Have Nairobi Delisted From Counties

Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot has drafted a proposal to have Nairobi County delisted as one of the 47 devolved units.

According to the Senator, the capital is a cosmopolitan area with far more advantages than other counties.

The Senator argues that due to its already advantageous position, Nairobi does not deserve to have its own budgetary allocation from the national government.

His proposal further advises that the county should be dissolved to enhance better management, utilisation of resources and planning because it is the country's focal point.

"The Nairobi Capital City shall be known as Nairobi and shall be the seat of the National Government.

"The President shall appoint a Cabinet Secretary who shall exercise such powers and perform duties delegated to him by the President from time to time," the proposal outlines in part.

Speaking shortly after the proposal was tabled before the Senate Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, he explained that other counties had come to rely on Nairobi as the gateway to investors.

"If we continue with this kind of imagination that because Nairobi has a county government, therefore, we rely on it to open up escape routes to places where there is huge population, then I don't think there is the capacity or willingness to do so," he lamented.

Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja was first to oppose the tenets of the proposal explaining that it would deprive city residents of the gains of devolution.

He added that should the proposal sail through, it would automatically call for a referendum as it will have altered the structure of government as outlined in the Constitution.