Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has said devolution must be the centrepiece of any referendum and constitutional changes talk. This may address concerns that the course of devolution and its achievements may be blurred by changes that focus on government structure and administration. Speaking after the Devolution conference, CS Wamalwa said its shouldn’t be ignored in the national discourse, and that if it is established, all Kenyans will win, “When we make devolution the centrepiece and devolution wins, we all win as Kenyans because we have seen the fruits of devolution going to all Kenyans,” he said.
He said that the main urge at the moment is to strengthen devolution going downwards to ensure it gets right to the village and through the Economic Blocs, the government is able to carry Counties that are small and seem to have viability challenges. However, he admitted that corruption is the toughest challenge facing devolution at the moment, “It has been acknowledged both by the national government and the County governments, it has also been acknowledged by our development partners,” he said, noting that the UK High Commissioner Nic Haley said unless the graft scourge is addressed, it may kill the dream of devolution.
Wamalwa said during the Devolution conference, the Governors agreed to strengthen the institutions that tackle corruption. And following the trend of other leaders, he urged Kenyans not to politicize the graft war, “We must avoid politicizing the war against corruption and adopt the approach of institutionalizing the war against corruption so we support the institutions mandated by our Constitution and our laws to fight corruption and we all support them.”