Citizen TV news anchor Jeff Koinange has earned backlash over his interview with Council of Governors (CoG) Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya on Wednesday, September 16, about the suspension of some county services.
A number of Kenyans expressed their displeasure with Koinange's tone and approach.
"That interview went south. Jeff was hell-bent on blaming Oparanya for the impasse instead of trying to objectively get his side of the story," one Jamlick Mwenda opined.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya: Senators have a responsibility yet they have not been able to agree on a revenue sharing formula for two years. Why are they blaming governors?#JKLive@KoinangeJeff pic.twitter.com/yEOFv0XjfH
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) September 16, 2020
Other netizens argued that he overlooked some issues while asking Oparanya why counties had resolved to shut down.
"I feel ashamed to be a Kenyan today, governors are blaming senators, senators are blaming governors and I said 'give us a break for once'," Jeff expressed.
He inquired from the CoG chair why counties could not use funds from locally collected revenues as they awaited the disbursement of funds from the national government.
"Jeff, counties cannot spend collected revenue at source, they must bank it and follow the requisition process to access it. That is the law," Ismael Noo offered.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua explained that over 95% of taxes collected by county governments are remitted to the national government for reallocation to counties.
"This money we are asking for is actually generated from counties by our own people and it is our right," Mutua stated.
The news anchor also asked why counties did not have savings to use in such dire times when services were grinding to a halt.
According to the Machakos governor, it was impossible for any government to set money aside as savings, arguing that needs of a country would always supersede the available finances.
"The projects we want to do for our people are more than the money we have. The government is always in deficit, including the US," he added.
Oparanya on his part, told Jeff that the Senate had been given two years to come up with the formula yet nothing had materialised, despite a meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta and Senate leaders at State House.
"The effort by the President was to make sure by today (Wednesday), they made the decision. When we left the meeting they said they would call a kamukunji and by today they would have made a decision. We received a letter from the majority leader and minority leader which was very fake since it did not give a definite date when they would make that resolution," the CoG Chair stated.
Governor Oparanya: The issue on revenue allocation formula has been with us for two years… As governors, we want senators to pass the formula#JKLive@KoinangeJeff pic.twitter.com/G2zEXojbRo
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) September 16, 2020
