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BY DAVID MUCHUI
Transitional Authority (TA) Chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi has accused Constitutional Implementation Commission CIC of playing government’s ‘bouncer’ in the efforts to disband the TA instead of upholding the constitution.
Speaking during the Civil Society week in Meru, Wamwangi sought the support of civil societies by speaking out against the dissolution of TA before the accomplishment of its mandate.
The TA Chairman further cast doubt over the ability of the proposed Inter-Governmental Relations Technical Committee of the Summit to take over the mandate of the authority as an independent body.
“Anyone working for devolution will receive a lot of opposition from centralists. There is need for political goodwill if the core mandate of TA will be achieved.
The Transition Authority has been strangled by the Treasury making it difficult to undertake our duties. CIC believes we are not a constitutional body,” Wamwangi said.
He noted that the Authority faced resistance from its inception where ministries have failed to provide relevant information to enable devolution of functions.
The TA Chairman cited allocation of insufficient funds by the government as one of the hindrances to its operations forcing them to rely on development partners for civic education.
“The Transitional Authority received Sh2 million for civic education against Sh87 million requested. The success of devolution is dependent on public confidence in the governance. This is not possible without civic education on public participation,” he said.
Wamwangi further cited difficulties in devolving assets and functions in the public works and roads sector over conflict of interests among MPs and roads bodies.
He called on Civil Society Organizations to work with the transition authority in implementing its mandate of educating the public on devolution.
“The transfer of assets and functions has been most difficult in public works because of vested interests. If the roads are devolved, bodies like KURA, KERRA and CDF roads feel threatened. We will have to lock them up in one room until they agree on national and county roads to resolve the gridlock,” he remarked.
TA, he said is a constitutional body and called on willing civil societies to go to court to seek interpretation of the Law on the constitutionality of the authority.
He warned that the process of devolution is under threat of being derailed by Shenanigans if the transition authority is dissolved.
ENDS…