Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya believes impeachment threats from members of county assembly sabotaged setting of development pace in many counties.
Mr Oparanya, who was speaking in Kisii town on Friday, argued that many enemies of devolution seized the opportunity to ‘misuse’ members of county assemblies by inciting them against many pioneer governors.
He said many governors were working under pressure from MCAs who were out to intimidate them and their county executive committee members.
“Initially, many of county governments struggled to set development pace due to intimidations and impeachment threats by our MCAs. They were being misused by dark forces to sabotage development by targeting performing Governors and CeCs,” Oparanya said.
According to Mr Oparanya, the situation has since challenged leading to remarkable development records in the county units.
“The intimidation slowed down growth and hampered normal functioning of counties. I am glad that most of our MCAs have now realized the reason why we should work as a team. This mutual relationship has led to remarkable development records in agriculture, health, infrastructure among others,” Oparanya added.
He maintained that the country should support devolution and asked Kenyans to desist from judging county governments based on negative media reports.
“In fact the major challenge we had initially was trouble with our MCAs who were being used by enemies of development and that has since diminished. Kenyans should have faith in devolution because for the few years we have worked, it’s evident that devolved units can have a major development impact on our people,” he said.