Kenya: Chairperson of the Council of Governors Isaac Ruto has dismissed reports of an agreement to abandon the push for a referendum, hours after a secret meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s political adviser.
Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto
But six governors from Rift Valley allied to the Jubilee Coalition said they had suspended the push for areferendum after a meeting in Nakuru yesterday.
“We met this morning as governors from Uasin Gishu, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Narok and Nakuru and agreed to reconsider the push for areferendum,” said Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago, claiming partisan party interests had infiltrated the push for increased revenue allocation to the counties.
In Nairobi, Bomet Governor Issac Ruto said the decision to hold a referendum was taken during a meeting with all the governors and there had been no meeting to reverse the same.
“I have no such mandate to call off the referendumbecause we all agreed as governors and there has been no such meeting over the same to reverse,” Ruto told a hastily convened press briefing last evening in Nairobi after reports of the meeting surfaced.
Earlier, after a meeting at Upper Hill, Nairobi, with the president’s adviser on political affairs Joshua Kuttuny, who is also a key ally of Deputy President William Ruto, the Bomet Governor had appeared to soften his stand.
Ruto had said he was willing to give dialogue a chance to end the stalemate on devolution.
He added concerns from Jubilee coalition supporters had forced him to re-evaluate his earlier hardline stance regarding governors’ demands. “We have to be open with one another. It does not matter whether we eventually agree to a referendum or not,” he said.
Based on fairness
Ruto, however, clarified that his change of tune does not mean that he had given up on thereferendum calls, and said that any negotiations would have to be based on fairness to the counties.
“Devolution has to work and there is a possibility of a solution to the current stalemate if we engage with the national government,” Ruto said.
In Nakuru, Mandago said: “The Council of Governors had three issues pertinent to devolution when the issue of referendum was mooted but as things stand now, other issues have been introduced.”
In the press conference were Mandago, Narok Governor Samuel Tunai and Nakuru Deputy Governor Joseph Ruto. The three said they were stating the position of governors from six counties.
Mandago said personal views by Ruto, the chairman of the council should not be misconstrued as the opinion of all the governors.
“The position of the council can only be communicated after a full council meeting, but when you give personal views that should not be misinterpreted,” he added.
By Rawlings Otieno, Wilfred Ayaga and Karanja Njoroge – The Standard
