The war on graft will not be won without active participation of the county governments, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa said yesterday.
Wamalwa said the devolved units should work with the national government to eradicate the vice that has negatively affected development of the country.
“We are asking the county governments to join the government in the war against the corruption,” Wamalwa said.
He was speaking in Nyeri town when he officially launched a public participation forum of a policy on establishment of economic blocks by county governments.
He at the same time asked the governors to lead from the front in the war against graft and utilize limited resources given to them prudently.
The CS noted that the establishment of the economic blocks would accelerate economic development of the counties and the country at large to benefit wanachi.
Wamalwa said the counties are the engines to drive President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ‘Big Four’ agenda and singled Mt Kenya region as crucial to the realization of food security.
He said blocks would attract more investments and enjoy the economies of scale to their advantage and that of their people.
Speaking during the same occasion, Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi dismissed claims by the Controller of Budget (CoB) hat majority of the counties were using disbursed funds for recurrent expenditure and not for development.
He challenged CoB to visit Meru county and witness development projects that are taking place in the area.
“We have sunk 100 boreholes in Meru County and I invite the CoB to come on the ground and assess them,” Kiraitu said adding it is wrong to say no development works is going on.
Nyeri Governor warned that the economic blocks should not be formed and eventually be transformed to regional blocks and therefore ‘kill’ devolution.
Kahiga added that Kenyans are looking at a possible referendum and counties are coming together for economic interests and “not for anything else”.
Nyandarua Governor who is also the chairman of the Mt Kenya region economic block cautioned against dragging politics into the blocks adding that the blocks are purposed for economic growth and development of the residents.