Leader of the Thirdway Alliance party Dr Ekuru Aukot has pointed out frustrations to the Punguza Mizigo bill from what he termed as intimidation of Members of County Assemblies to drop the proposal.
Speaking at the Kilifi County Assembly on Friday in Malindi, Aukot asked MCAs to stand firm and independent while discussing the bill.
According to Aukot, prominent leaders in the country, whom the Thirdway Alliance leader declined to mention, said are behind the mischief and cascade propaganda against the Punguza Mizigo bill.
“There is intimidation of MCAs going around. The MCAs should be reminded that they have a constitutional responsibility to be independent and avoid succumbing to intimidation from prominent leaders and political parties,” he said.
He added that Punguza Mzigo is geared to take development and service delivery to ward levels, as opposed to executive level.
“The people behind the intimidation have been propagating that Punguza Mzigo bill seeks to dissolve counties and reduce women representation,” he said, adding that “Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Chege’s statements to Murang’a MCAs are propaganda for the bill is very opposite to that.”
Aukot said he has received calls from Siaya MCAs lamenting that what is being tabled to the house is advisory opinions instead of the bill, adding that the MCAs should go to court to protest.
However, Aukot hailed ODM party leader Raila Odinga for accepting that indeed there is a problem in Kenya regarding wage bill that needs to be addressed.
"What the former prime minister is demonstrating is what can be referred to as magnanimity in leadership, where, when there is a problem in the country a leader stands tall and acknowledges the existence of the problem. And addressing the issue is what Punguza Mzigo is all about.”
Welcoming Dr. Aukot to address the Member of Kilifi County Assembly, Speaker of the County Assembly of Kilifi, Jimmy Kahindi revealed a robust approach that the MCAs will follow to ensure public participation is achieved.
Speaker Kahindi said that MCAs would play the role of mobilizing and highlighting the contents of the bill to the people they represent in accordance to the law, during which inputs will be recorded and documented for verification purposes.
"There will be no shortcuts in the discussion of this bill. Kilifi MCAs will have less input to the bill. The house will be guided by the people’s voices that will be captured and recorded in written, video, and audio formats. If the people of Kilifi say Yes, MCAs will endorse a Yes, and not the otherwise," he said.
To that effect, the Speaker added that the assembly has on Friday issued out a 14-day notice on the daily newspapers about the public participation of the bill.
Dr Aukot, who has already visited and presented the bill to 17 counties, challenged other county assemblies to borrow and replicate the strategy that Kilifi County Assembly is about to employ.
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