Kisumu Governor, Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o, has strongly criticized President William Ruto’s administration, accusing it of reverting to tactics reminiscent of the Nyayo era in the ongoing dispute over the management of road funds.
In a statement issued on April 22, 2025, Governor Nyong’o called for the full implementation of devolution, arguing that the national government’s interference in the management of the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERA) is counterproductive and unconstitutional.
Nyong’o asserted that if the government is genuinely committed to devolution, these bodies should be dissolved, allowing county governments to manage their own affairs more effectively.
He pointed to the national government’s struggles with managing key institutions, such as Kenyatta National Hospital, as evidence of its inefficiency, saying:
“The truth is that the Ruto regime has decided to go back to pre-devolution times of the Nyayo era. The 2010 Constitution is a hindrance to its primitive accumulation schemes, which threaten the very ethos of building a national democratic and developmental state.”
Governor Nyong’o stressed the need for county leaders, particularly within the Council of Governors, to resist any attempts to weaken devolution, describing the system as one of the key "achievements of the Second Liberation."
His comments come amid rising tensions between county and national governments, with many devolved units expressing alarm over what they see as a gradual erosion of devolution principles and autonomy.