The tyranny of Kenya's MCAs

The report examines the challenges facing Kenya's constitutional devolution, specifically the 'unfettered power' of members of county assemblies (MCAs). It details how MCAs have used ambiguous impeachment thresholds in the Constitution and the County Government Act to blackmail county officials and engage in political extortion. The document also highlights significant financial irregularities, citing the misuse of billions of shillings in sitting allowances, travel, and vehicle purchases, while personnel emoluments far exceeded development allocations in the 2013 fiscal year. The authors call for urgent reforms to the devolution architecture and the impeachment process to prevent political elites from subverting public service delivery.

• Members of county assemblies (MCAs) have leveraged their strategic grassroots position and ambiguous constitutional thresholds for impeachment to engage in political extortion and blackmail of county governors, speakers, and executive members.
• MCAs have demonstrated a disregard for the rule of law and legal procedures, exemplified by the Makueni County assembly unilaterally passing the 2014/2015 budget in violation of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
• There has been widespread misuse of public funds by MCAs, including KES 2.4 billion in sitting allowances and KES 7.75 billion on travel, with some counties exceeding the Salaries and Remuneration Commission's KES 124,000 limit for sitting allowances.
• In the 2013 fiscal year, personnel emoluments expenditures (KES 77.4 billion) significantly outweighed development allocations (KES 36.3 billion) within county governments.

APA

Aling'o, P., & Wagacha, D. W. (n.d.). The tyranny of Kenya's MCAs. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-tyranny-of-kenyas-mcas

Chicago

Aling'o, Peter, and David W Wagacha. The tyranny of Kenya's MCAs. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-tyranny-of-kenyas-mcas.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Aling'o |first1=Peter |last2=Wagacha |first2=David W |title=The tyranny of Kenya's MCAs |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-tyranny-of-kenyas-mcas |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{alingondtyranny, author = {Aling'o, Peter and Wagacha, David W}, title = {{The tyranny of Kenya's MCAs}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-tyranny-of-kenyas-mcas}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }