War of words between Executive and COG is a threat to devolution

The escalating war of words between the national government and the Council of Governors (CoG) is threatening to reverse gains made across the 47 devolved units since the 2010 Constitution was enacted.

The stand-off is also between Members of Parliament who argue that counties have failed to properly account for the billions of shillings allocated to them and CoG, which is fighting both legal and political battles to take charge of all devolved functions.

The governors strongly feel that devolution is failing because their effort to effectively run their counties is being undermined by the executive and the legislature.

Last year, the High Court froze Sh10.5 billion collected under the Roads Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) after the Council of Governors challenged the use of that money by Kenya Roads Board in their counties.