Deputy President William Ruto has summoned five Cabinet secretaries and the Council of Governors to a meeting of the Inter-governmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) next week, causing jitters as 2022 politics takes centre stage.
A year or so ago, an IBEC meeting, which statutorily provided for by Section 187 of the Public Finance Management Act, would have passed with just a little mention.
However, the November 22 meeting comes at a time when the relations between Dr Ruto and his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, is at an all-time low.
The Deputy President’s own capacity to influence proceedings in government has also diminished. As a result, there are doubts on whether the CSs, most of whom have had no time for Dr Ruto, will show up due to the strained relationship between the country’s two most powerful men. Moreover, the choice of venue — the DP’s official residence in Karen — is proving difficult for some as Dr Ruto has turned the place as his political base where he hosts ‘hustler nation’ delegations allied to this United Democratic Alliance.
The CSs that Dr Ruto has invited include Ukur Yatani (National Treasury), Prof George Magoha (Education), Peter Munya (Agriculture), James Macharia (Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works) and Charles Keter (Devolution). For some invitees, the meeting, well-intentioned as it may be, could be a channel for backing up the campaign messaging for the DP.
“The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the next full council meeting shall take place on Monday, 22nd November 2021 at the Office of the Deputy President, Karen Office, at 9am,” states the invitation letter by Ken Osinde, the DP’s Chief of Staff.
Other key people invited to the meeting are the chairman of the Council of Governors Martin Wambora, the office of the Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi, chairperson of the Commission on Revenue Allocation Jane Kiringai, chairperson of the County Assemblies Forum Ndegwa Wahome, Clerk of the National Assembly Michael Sialai, and the acting chairman of the Inter-governmental Relations Technical Committee John Burugu.
Of the CSs invited to the meeting, Mr Yatani, Mr Munya and Mr Macharia have been strong critics of the DP, while Dr Ruto and his allies have returned in kind, calling on ministers who have taken political sides to resign or be deployed to other ministries that are not directly involved in elections planning.
Raise minimum revenue
Mr Macharia and Mr Munya were among the four CSs who in 2019 were accused of threatening the DP’s life. Mr Yatani has also told off the DP over the proposal to raise the minimum revenue share to counties to 35 per cent.
Politically, the CSs are all pro-handshake and have been interacting with Mr Odinga, Dr Ruto’s arch-rival for the presidency in next year’s election.
Mr Munya has been quoted saying that the DP brought upon himself the woes he is facing and that his proposed bottom-up economic model is no different from the ‘wash wash’ (fraud) businesses.
“If you don’t respect your boss, who else can you respect? That tells you the kind of leadership he will provide in case he becomes President,” Mr Munya said.
Because of the frosty relation that President Kenyatta’s supporters have with the DP, one government functionary curtly told Sunday Nation that “I don’t think any Minister or PSs would want to go before Ruto at the moment”, throwing in the air the chances of the IBEC meeting taking place as scheduled.
Among the invited CSs, one confided to Sunday Nation that he has not attended the IBEC meetings in the last two years and sees no reason to attend this one. “The current political conditions make it even harder,” the CS said.
But political commentator Dismas Mokua says the CSs will likely attend.
“While it is the case that there is bad blood between the Cabinet Secretaries and the DP, there is high probability that they will attend the meeting because of three reasons- one, it is a statutory meeting, two, failure to attend will give DP Ruto talking points and as a result political capital. He has been accused of being a ‘ghost worker’. He can now blame the cabinet for treating him with contempt, and three, for Cabinet Secretaries to read his body language and seek to pick bits of intelligence from their conversations,” says Mr Mokua.
Tension-filled meeting
According to Mr Mokua, the tension-filled meeting will be mechanical and ceremonial “because any input/suggestions from the DP will be treated with contempt.”
Even though the invitation letter is addressed to the CSs, the agenda of the meeting shows that of the five, only Mr Yattani will play an active role with the rest having their Principal Secretaries the ones to make presentations.
While governors do not ordinarily attend IEBC meetings and instead are represented at the meetings by the CoG and their executive committee members for finance, CoG has this time extended an invite to all the 47 county bosses.
“The Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) has written to the Council informing of a meeting scheduled for 22nd November 2021 at 9am to deliberate and build consensus on, among other agenda items, the Division of Revenue between the National Government and County Governments for FY 2022/23. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the planned meeting which will take place at the Office of the Deputy President, Karen office, for your participation,” CoG acting CEO Mary Mwiti said in the letter to governors.
At the CoG, there is a split within the council on whether the invite should be honoured on account that the meeting amounts to nothing in relation to the current political climate.
The Sunday Nation has learnt that while some of the governors are privately dreading the very idea of showing up at Karen, those who aligned to President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga have declared that they will not show up. Otherwise, they say doing so will appear to be legitimising Ruto’s political hand.
“I will not attend,” was Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya’s brief response when contacted by the Sunday Nation yesterday.
“The battle lines have been drawn and every one must keep to their lane. I am fully in Mr Raila Odinga’s camp. That is my lane and that is where I intend to remain, no matter what,” he added.
Another governor from Mt Kenya who opted not to be named said that attending the meeting will be tricky as one “cannot totally divorce politics from the proceedings.”
“I am sure the DP invited all the governors in a referendum of sorts. He wants to know who are with him. You just can’t ignore the current political nuances and go there. Optics matter a lot in our politics,” the governor said.
Karen meeting
The IEBC meeting is scheduled to take place just a day before the 7th Devolution Conference which starts on November 23 in Makueni County. For some invitees, especially the governors, the conference provides a perfect excuse not to attend the Karen meeting.
The Deputy President, by law, chairs the IBEC which is an intergovernmental entity that provides a forum for consultation and cooperation between the national government and county governments. It considers matters relating to budgeting and the economy, and this time is expected to discuss the 2022/2023 budget cycle which must be completed before the August 9, 2022, General Election.
The Council’s standing members are the DP as the chairperson, CSs for National Treasury and Devolution, representatives of the Parliamentary Service Commission and Judicial Service Commission, CRA chairperson, CoG chairperson and the 47 County Executive Committee members in charge of the finance docket.
The meetings come at a time when the CoG has trashed the proposal by CRA to retain the share of national revenue to counties at Sh370 billion for a second year running. CoG wants their share increased to Sh751.45 billion by adopting the proposals contained in the collapsed Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
Also on the agenda are presentation of reports on the special audit of pending bills, cash disbursement to counties, privatization of public-owned sugar companies, progress on county technical and vocational training centres, coordination of valuation of assets, county credit rating, municipal courts fines and fees, and progress of own-source revenue bill, among other agenda items.
The meeting is also set to consider the proposed borrowing of Sh1.16 billion by the Laikipia County government.
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