{"id":28030,"date":"2016-08-25T02:47:37","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T02:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/kenya-senators-rattle-laid-back-governors\/"},"modified":"2016-08-25T02:47:04","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T02:47:04","slug":"kenya-senators-rattle-laid-back-governors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/kenya-senators-rattle-laid-back-governors\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya:Senators rattle laid-back governors"},"content":{"rendered":"

{The governors have accused senators of abandoning their role as protectors of devolution.}<\/p>\n

Governors have been rattled out of their complacency by senators flocking back home to seek county seats, sparking a flurry of campaigns in the devolved regions.<\/p>\n

Senators are holding meetings and attending harambees and funerals where they criticise governors. Some have been holding meetings with youth, elders and women.<\/p>\n

They mostly accuse governors of misusing public funds and failing to implement development projects.<\/p>\n

Governors have accused senators of abandoning their role as protectors of devolution.<\/p>\n

Senators eyeing governorships are Anyang Nyong\u2019o (Kisumu), Chris Obure (Kisii), Hassan Omar (Mombasa), Boni Khalwale (Kakamega), Mike Sonko (Nairobi), Kiraitu Murungi (Meru) David Musila (Kitui), Kembi Gitura (Murang\u2019a) and John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot).<\/p>\n

The senators, most of them veteran politicians, are hoping to use their networks to oust the governors, most of whom are newcomers.<\/p>\n

GRASSROOTS NEEDS<\/p>\n

In Kisumu, Senator Nyong\u2019o has teamed up with Nyando MP Fred Outa and has been meeting opinion leaders to seek their support.<\/p>\n

Mr Outa wants to replace Prof Nyong\u2019o in the Senate.<\/p>\n

Prof Nyong\u2019o has started campaigning in earnest and on Monday launched a short message service that he says will help him engage in an \u201cinteractive exchange of ideas on how to develop Kisumu County.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fought for devolution for certain things to happen in the counties. The sole purpose of devolution was to have more resources at the grassroots but this has not been the case in Kisumu,\u201d the senator told the Nation.<\/p>\n

The former planning minister said he has developed a blueprint that will enable the people of Kisumu to fully benefit from devolution.<\/p>\n

In Kisii, Senator Obure has teamed up with Charles Nyachae, the former chairman of the defunct Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, and Deputy Governor Joash Maangi against Governor James Ongwae.<\/p>\n

The leaders recently led a delegation from the county to State House in Nairobi, sparking demonstrations in Kisii town.<\/p>\n

Mr Obure, a harsh critic of Governor Ongwae\u2019s administration, is seeking Kisii leaders\u2019 endorsement to run for the seat.<\/p>\n

‘WHERE THE MONEY IS’<\/p>\n

But political analyst Barrack Muluka says the senators are seeking governorship \u201cbecause that is where the money is\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe questions of accountability are not there. If you look at what has happened in the past four years, senators have been intimidating governors but nothing happens in terms of accountability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said senators have realised there was neither power nor money in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they opted to run for [the Senate], they thought there was power there but have come to realise that even members of the National Assembly are more powerful than them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Kakamega, Senator Khalwale says he will kick out Governor Wycliffe Oparanya \u201cfor failing to ensure devolution is a success and benefits the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe I am the best bet for governor. The people are not enjoying the fruits of devolution that we fought for,\u201d Dr Khalwale told the Nation.<\/p>\n

In Mombasa, Senator Omar is promising to send Governor Hassan Joho home.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{The governors have accused senators of abandoning their role as protectors of devolution.} Governors have been rattled out of their complacency by senators flocking back home to seek county seats, sparking a flurry of campaigns in the devolved regions. Senators are holding meetings and attending harambees and funerals where they criticise governors. Some have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[2461],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-28030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-daily-nation"],"bylines":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28030"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=28030"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=28030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}