Meru County leaders led by Chief of Staff Hon. Gideon Kimathi, MCAs Mworia Kiongozi, Mwirigi Karinga and Kireria Mwobobia, have said that they will throw their full support behind the Ugatuzi Initiative Draft on Constitutional Amendment, which is being developed by the Council of Governors (CoG) Committee on Referendum, under leadership of Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi and his co-chair, the Makueni Governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana. The leaders observed that under the current arrangement, Devolution faces danger of failing to materialize in line with hopes and aspirations of drafters of Kenya Constitution 2010, due to straineous relationship on revenue allocation between Counties and National Government.

"The Governor and MCAs have become the sole focus of the Mwananchi in every aspect of governance, where all functions have been transferred to the County Governments, so much that it has become commonplace for the Governor and MCAs to appear like they were the only ones who were elected. All functions of government service delivery and development have been disposed to the County Governments with only 15% of the national budget, while the National Government which has very limited functions, is left with over 85% of national revenue," said the Chief of Staff.

He added that while the so-called Big Four Agenda has been allocated a whole Sh400 billion, the County Governments have struggled to get only Sh19 billion additional budgetary funding to deliver grassroots development to Mwananchi, with no success.

Hon. Karinga of Abogeta East lamented that even the allocated mandatory 15% revenue has become problematic to be released to the Counties. His sentiments were supported by Hon. Kireria Mwobobia of Igoji East and member of County Assemblies Forum(CAF) and Mworia Kiongozi of Nyaki West, who said that currently all development projects in the County have stalled due to failure by national Government to release funds in good time.

As such, the leaders said that the Ugatuzi Initiative will receive massive backing from all counties because it seeks to solve these issues by clearly defining the revenue allocation formula and dispensing of funds to Counties, by removing the current unnecessary blocks, which are likely to kill the spirit of Devolution. They spoke at Miruriri Girls Secondary School, during the ceremony to unveil the new school bus, which was purchased through personal donations of various Stakeholders including Governor Kiraitu, Chief of Staff Hon. Kimathi, Capital Sacco, among others.
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