Hello

Your subscription is almost coming to an end. Don’t miss out on the great content on Nation.Africa

Ready to continue your informative journey with us?

Hello

Your premium access has ended, but the best of Nation.Africa is still within reach. Renew now to unlock exclusive stories and in-depth features.

Reclaim your full access. Click below to renew.

Subscribe for a month to get full access

Empower MCAs to boost county oversight role

Editorial logo Nation.Africa

By  Editorial

A key role of the Members of the County Assemblies (MCA) is oversight on public finance management in the devolved units. Being at the grassroots, MCAs are better placed than senators to keep an eye on the governors, some of whom have featured prominently in the revelations on the looting of county funds.

Of course, oversighting the counties is the major role of the Senate and working closely with the MCAs, they would be much more effective. The sad reality, though, is that MCAs often get easily compromised, hoping to reap from the gravy train and end up letting crooked governors literally get away with murder.

This is why a plan by senators to wrest the MCAs from the governors’ grip so they can perform their rightful oversight role makes plenty of sense. But it is also true that some greedy MCAs have been arm-twisting governors with impeachment threats so that their pockets can be lined.

Also Read

All this could change if the senators, who are pushing for financial autonomy of the county assemblies, have their way. This legislative arm of the counties will become more effective if the governors’ stranglehold on the MCAs is loosened. The senators have thrown their weight behind a Bill by one of the own that seeks to ensure that MCAs do their jobs without any hindrance,

The County Public Finance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 sponsored by Meru Senator Kathuri Murungi is already at the second reading stage. It seeks to amend the county public finance laws to enable the county assemblies to access their money directly from the National Treasury.

To obtain money for their oversight role, MCAs often have to literally kneel before the County Executive Committee Member for Finance, who is the governor’s appointee. Some of them are actually the governors' puppets, who are used to siphon public funds. Indeed, the principle of separation of powers requires that county assemblies, as the Legislature, are not pocketed by the governors, who are the Executive heads. This hampers their oversight role.

The empowering of the MCAs to effectively perform their oversight duty is long overdue.