Nairobi County Senator Edwin Sifuna has faulted governors for misleading national leaders on matters of devolution.

Speaking during a sitting of the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, Sifuna said governors have been giving misleading counsel to national leaders, including Raila Odinga. He argued that governors have misguided leaders into adopting positions that do not align with his long-held stance on strengthening devolution.

“It’s not the governors who are being misadvised; it’s the governors misadvising our national leaders. It’s the governors who have misadvised my party leader,” Sifuna said.

Devolution conference

Sifuna explained that he deliberately skipped the recently concluded Devolution Conference in Homa Bay, not out of dislike for the people of the county, but because he viewed the event as a “jamboree” organised by governors to advance their own agenda while sidelining other critical institutions in the devolution structure.

 He maintained that the conference was used to influence national leaders into taking positions contrary to the principles of accountability and Senate oversight.

“That is why I didn’t want to attend the devolution conference that was held in your county – not because I don’t like the people of Homa Bay, but because this jamboree that is put together by governors who have no request to other institutions that are involved in devolution was a platform where they poisoned the minds of national leaders to pronounce themselves on certain things,” he added.

He recalled that in earlier discussions when Raila recently visited the Senate, he stated that the ODM leader had strongly supported the central role of the Senate in safeguarding devolution. According to Sifuna, those views represented Odinga’s true position.

He went ahead to state that he was even shocked to see Raila make those pronouncements in Homa Bay, since that was not the Raila he has known over the years.

His plea to advisors

Sifuna further urged government advisors, including the Attorney General, to give sound counsel to leaders on issues of governance and devolution. He emphasised that Raila’s long-standing record shows a consistent belief in strengthening the Senate and insisted that the contrary position presented during the Homa Bay conference was the result of misguidance by the county bosses.

“I said in Diani that if you are in a position of advising any leader in this country. I even told the Attorney General that you should give proper advice to the Head of State; when it comes to devolution, it’s these governors who are misadvising the Mzee,” he added.

During the Homa Bay conference, Raila had criticised the practice of the Senate summoning governors, suggesting that accountability at the county level should be handled by county assemblies.