All rise: Lets listen to our members of county assemblies

Pius Maundu

@piusmaundu

All rise: Lets listen to our members of county assemblies

“How come you are not laughing?” Not you.

Rather, this is the question I would have shot at Steve Munene, alias Simba, the Runyenjes Central ward representative, at the pressor after he called upon the exchequer to consider rewarding the spouses of county legislators. What do people do when they trade humor?

“Give our spouses some allowances as compensation for all the time their husbands are away. They spend a lot of time lonely.” This was Munene. Unless this happens, in the wisdom of the legislator, whose moniker is Swahili for lion, devolution will stall. It sounds funny, doesn’t it? Not to our leaders.  

For the one year they have been in power, MCAs have been grabbing  headlines with utmost notoriety. They do this not for playing some abracadabra on the underdevelopment that has been bedeviling their electorates since the days the were under the mercies of MPs and the councillors of yore. In Kibwezi, one had promised free weaves on all women voters, only to deny that barely on the first anniversary in power. How fast they learn the doublespeak! 

MCAs have been in the press mostly for the wrong reason. When they are not quoted making ultimatums when their house and car loan demands are delayed, the 2100 county legislators are arm-twisting their bosses and the electorate in reckless abandon. 

No one but social commentators have won in capturing the growing onslaught by MCAs. A recent caricature by Godfrey Mwampembwa shows MCAs-represented in larger-than-life moles milling around a governor. Here, the menacing rats are threatening the governor of dire consequences if he does not yield to their demands to gnaw the county coffers dry. 

One of the benefits scholars point out for devolution is the development of national leaders. Devolved units, thus, serve as the incubation centers for future MPs, cabinet secretaries, senators, and even presidents. 

President Barack Obama was once a member of the Illinois Senate. Looking at the case of MCAs it becomes clear that this scholarship only holds true in developed countries. 

Immediately President Mwai Kibaki oversaw the promulgation of the new constitution in 2010, Kenyans would have gotten out of their skins had they known that MCAs would effectively multiply what the MPs had perfected: profiteering at the expense of development. 

But what are MCAs saying? Certainly, it is not for free that county legislators are making these overtures. 

One would imagine that the proximity of MCAs to their voters would scare them into concentrating on their poverty alleviation mandates. Instead these law makers are using their immediacy to Wanjiku to arm-twist the national government. More than ever before, legislators are reporting how troublesome their voters are turning out to be.  

In a recent forum by Heinrich Boll Foundation in a Nairobi hotel, Diana Kapeen, MCA South C reiterated that women legislators are risking having their families broken. It is increasingly becoming hard to convince relatives that they lack money, she had said. Her counterparts-in the event meant to recount the milestones of women legislators in the devolved system of government-took this cry a notch higher. 

“Bereaved electorates are stopping at our doors first before informing their relatives of their predicaments. For this reason, I have co-opted my househelp in putting down the issues that the people in my area bring with them when they troop to my home during breakfast.” This was Racheal Kamweru, an MCA, Nairobi County. 

Springing immediately from this experience, MCAs have been up in arms asking for additional perks and hardship allowances. Cars, houses, and offices sit poignantly on the list of their demands.  The latest onslaught, however, seems very interesting. 

Methinks that by positing that their spouses should be enlisted for reward, MCAs are chestthumbing. They are mockingly telling the national government that it is their time to eat. While at it, the are brandishing a mta do? (what can you  do?) to the direction of the taxpayer. 

This or that MCAs are lashing at their pariahs at the county administration. From the theatrics meted on Governor Martin Nyaga Wambora and Governor Paul Kiprono Chepkwony, it is certain that the relationship between MCAs and governors is wanting. 

Makueni County was the fisrt to post a standoff between Governor Kivutha Kibwana and MCAs, when the former could not agree to the proposed consumerism by the later. In the 2013/2014 budgeting period, it took the intervention of the national budget to enable most counties pay their workers. 

To cut their bosses to shape, the county legislators are resulting to flexing their impeachment muscles. Sadly, this hits a snag when the judiciary reverses the decisions by legislators, making MCAs pass as minions.

It is in this backdrop, in my thinking, that MCAs, individually or in a small group,  are retracting to strategize. All along, these legislators have underscored their importance in the governance system. That is why, for instance, they are expressing dismay when the media spotlights on their globetrotting escapades. 

How come we don’t get to hear such furore when MPs draw high perks and allowances, and are sponsored to go on benchmarking trips? They wonder. In such a world of fascination, it is not surprising for the MCAs to borrow from the provanance of previous regimes, albeit cunningly. 

Perhaps as a reward for their burying the hatchet, the President, Prime Minister and the Vice- President had their wives enrolled for pay after the signing of the National Accord in 2008. In addition to the trappings of power was an office for each of Lucy Kibaki, Ida Odinga, and Pauline Musyoka. 

However, unlike the case of Simba, the explanation for the recognition of the spouses of the three national leaders was that they played an important role in enabling their spouses deliver on their duties.

One would think that it is ward representatives who are turning to family values to wage selfish wars. Teachers, and even governors are in the bandwagon too. But that is the far two cases of greed are similar.

Make no mistake. MCAs know pretty well the implications of their overtures on development. They cannot afford not to run in 2017. 

With governors, Opposition and Jubilee winking at MCAs, they can only ask for more. Especially with anxiety the running through the holders of the yam and the knife, in the wake of the calls for referendum, MCAs will continue having a field day. 

Don’t suffer an asystole when MCAs start smiling all the way to the bank and live happily ever after, with goodies wrapped by the taxpayer streaming their way.