Why Wajackoyah has renewed calls for constitutional overhaul
By Emmanuel Rono, May 20, 2026Roots Party leader George Wajackoyah has argued that Kenya’s current governance framework has weakened counties and fuelled mismanagement of public resources.
Speaking in an interview with a local radio station on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, Wajackoyah criticised the existing devolution system, claiming that several counties remain underdeveloped because they are overly dependent on national government allocations instead of generating their own revenue.
“They are starved completely because of the constitution that we have. We don’t want counties to wait for money to come from up. We need counties to be the ones giving, but we need counties to be giving to the states to have a proper constitutional mechanism that will make the state the epicentre of development and counties to be the resource centre for those states,” Wajackoyah stated.
Radical restructuring
According to him, the current structure has created inefficiencies where counties wait for money to come from the national government instead of becoming self-sustaining economic hubs.
Wajackoyah proposed a radical restructuring in which counties would play a more resource-generating role, suggesting a model where counties contribute to a stronger central state rather than primarily relying on it.
He argued that such a system would position the national government as a development epicentre, while counties become resource centres feeding into broader national growth.
“When Roots Party says that we shall change the constitution or do away with the constitution, people say, but where will we go? We can work with presidential decrees. When there’s a vacuum, whereby we are doing away with the constitution, we shall need a decree of transition during that particular time until Kenyans come up with a new proposal,” Wajackoyah said.
Fighting corruption
Speaking during an interview with a local station on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, Wajackoyah argued that the country should adopt a mechanism similar to that of Afghanistan, where those found guilty of corruption are hanged upside down.
“In Afghanistan, if you are found to have been involved in corruption, they will give you the right, and you will have to pass through the justice mechanism. And if you’re found guilty, they will definitely hang you upside down just like they hang the former president,” Wajackoyah, who is keen to make a major political comeback, stated.
“Introduction of the death penalty will only be the solution. And that’s why we in the Roots Party are advocating for.”