Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has accused the National Assembly of undermining devolution through what he termed as arbitrary and punitive budget cuts targeting county governments.

Speaking during a heated Senate session on October 30, 2025, on the Division of Revenue Bill, Sifuna said the reductions amounted to “blackmail” against counties and demanded transparency from the National Assembly’s Finance Committee.

He accused the National Assembly of routinely coercing governors and county governments into compliance. “That is the conversation we want to have, because for us, Honourable Speaker, who believe in devolution, we see a situation where the National Assembly most of the time is blackmailing governors and county governments into accepting things,” he said.

Calls for accountability

“Now Honourable Speaker, I know what some people are trying to tell us here, that we should not question, for whatever reason, the decisions that the Committee on Finance reaches,” Sifuna began. “But the Committee has a responsibility to explain to us what the National Assembly rationale for those reductions was.”

Sifuna took issue with specific cuts in the committee’s report, citing allocations for county headquarters in five marginalised regions. “When you look at the amount of money that had been passed by this House regarding the county headquarters for the five counties, if you look at that schedule at page 15 of the report, the National Assembly basically just removed one million shillings from each county,” he said.

He listed the affected counties as Isiolo, Lamu, Nyandarua, Tana River, and Tharaka Nithi, noting that the allocations had been reduced from Ksh 60 million to Ksh 59 million, Ksh 121 million to Ksh 120 million, and Ksh 31 million to Ksh 30 million, respectively.

Arbitrary action

Sifuna described the adjustments as senseless and politically motivated. “At the very minimum, you know this just looks like a very arbitrary action, or just to me, Honourable Speaker, a flexing of muscles, that the National Assembly can show the Senate that they can do these things,” he charged.

“What is the rationale? The committee should explain to me what the scientific reason is behind moving the allocation for Isiolo from 60 million to 59. What is the rationale?”

Sifuna cited a High Court ruling declaring the removal of funds from county allocations unconstitutional.

“Honourable Speaker, what Senator Eddy has failed to mention to you is that the High Court… has already declared the removal of sums of money to do with RMLA from the county governments unconstitutional,” he said.