Deputy President William Ruto's is the second most powerful man on the land and numerous times he has played coy by claiming he is only President Uhuru Kenyatta's helper.
Unknown to many, the DP plays a very major role in the relationship between the two tiers of governments.
The Public Finance Management Act of 2012 made the DP chairperson of the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council.
The council comprises DP, the Treasury CS, a representative of the Parliamentary Service Commission as well as a representative of the Judicial Service Commission.
Also on the council are the chairperson of the Commission on Revenue Allocation or a person designated by the Chairperson, the Council of Governors chairperson, every County Executive Committee member for Finance and the Devolution CS.
The purpose of the council is to provide a forum for consultation and cooperation between the national government and county governments.
DP Ruto and the rest of the members are responsible for matters relating to budgeting, the economy and financial management and integrated development at the national and county level.
They are also responsible for formulating policies on borrowing and the framework for national government loan guarantees, criteria for guarantees and eligibility for guarantees.
The council upon agreement, schedules for the disbursement of available cash from the consolidated fund on the basis of cash flow projections and any proposed legislation or policy which has financial implication for the counties.
The deputy president decides the time and agenda for the meeting and they sit at least twice a year.
In 2019, using his position as the chair of the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council, he tried to intervene in the financial stalemate between the CoG and the National Assembly to no avail.
This was after a meeting between DP Ruto and the Council of Governors halted after the county bosses walked out in a huff.
The discussions were being held at Ruto's office in Karen where he supported the National Assembly's allocation of Ksh317 billion to the county governments.
On the other hand, the county bosses opposed the position taken by the DP and maintained their stand on the Senate's revised county allocations of Ksh336 billion.
