Nairobi News

Cord leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka on Saturday kicked off their Okoa Kenya amend-the-Constitution campaign in Nairobi and said a successful pitch would mean more resources to the grassroots.

The leaders who were backed by senators Johnstone Muthama, Hassan Omar, Elizabeth Ongoro, Boni Khalwale and James Orengo, among other elected officials, said their efforts to have a referendum were well on course and called upon voters to support them.

While addressing a public rally at Kariobangi North, in Nairobi, the leaders also signalled they had begun campaigns for the 2017 General Election with speakers declaring Mr Odinga the coalition’s preferred presidential flag bearer.

Mr Odinga said the referendum was meant to increase allocation of funds to counties to actualise devolution and accused the Jubilee government of failing to allocate enough money to the devolved units.

“The success of counties and the pace of devolution has slowed down because the government has refused to allocate enough funds,” he said.

“They (Jubilee government) refused to accept our calls for dialogue, now we have decided to approach the voters who will decide the way forward,” said the Cord principal.

CONSTITUTION CHANGE

Cord recently launched a campaign to change the Constitution with sweeteners targeting MCAs, judges, MPs and governors.

The Opposition has begun a series of rallies which will be held in the next one month to shore up support for the Okoa Kenya (Save Kenya) Bill.

The Bill seeks to have the minimum allocation to counties increased from the current 15 per cent of the government’s last audited revenue accounts to 45 per cent, a move that would be popular with governors whose referendum push on the matter is pending.

It also proposes that 5 per cent of the amount allocated to counties go directly to a Ward Development Fund to finance projects in wards.

Cord also proposes that counties be involved in some aspects of security management, another popular campaign by governors.

The movement also seeks to change the basis of calculations of allocations to counties from the current criteria of the most recent audited accounts to a share of the preceding financial year’s revenue.

While addressing the rally, Mr Odinga also accused the government of failing to guarantee security to all Kenyans, adding that terrorists and bandits continued to wreak havoc with abandon.

Mr Kalonzo accused the government of interfering with land matters and lacking commitment in the fight against corruption.