Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has said that the national government has been undermining the County governments.
Ojaamong said border counties have been losing a lot of revenue streams to National Government due to lack of terms of engagement.
He said a number of treaties which affect them are signed without the knowledge of County governments.
Speaking when he received a team that is working on the proposed Busia Jumuiya market led by Director-Integration in the Ministry of EAC, Dr. Alice Yalla, Ojaamong said failure by the National Government to execute its mandate has put leaders of such counties on a coalition course with their residents.
“We lost our parking yard in Malaba to Kenya Revenue Authority for use on temporary basis but they have now acquired the title without our blessings,”
“We also lost pieces of land in Malaba and Busia towards construction of One Stop Border Post in return for trailer parks but which never came to fruition, thus the need for defined terms of engagement before execution of any task,” he said.
The Governor said his Government will support the Jumuiya market project but with assurance that the residents will benefit from economies of scale and the county from the share of accrued revenue.
Dr Yalla assured the Governor that memorandums of understanding on the management of the facility, revenue sharing formula and the issues of occupancy will be made public.
“The terms of reference for the market are 90 per cent complete, what remains is the need for active engagement by the County Government and County Commissioner’s office,” she said.
She added that the Sh1billion project will take two years to complete.
Deputy Governor Moses Mulomi said the dream for a Jumuiya market is a welcome move but it should not be an alien project to the community.
Mulomi said Busia residents are of the feeling that the County Government has not done much due to failure in honoring agreements, noting that Trade Mark East Africa tops the list of such defaulters.
Those present included County Commissioner Jacob Narengo, County Executive Committee Members Judith Maketso (Trade), Prof Grephas Opata (Lands), Dr. Moses Osia (Agriculture) and Chief Officers Maurice Odundo (Lands) and Nelson Kwamini (Trade).