Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has warned the government against reviving the old Provincial Administration system, which he called a colonial relic that no longer needs to be practiced in Kenya.

“This day is a testament that devolution works, your excellence I want to plead with you do not resurrect provincial administration, it is a relic of colonialism that has no place in todays independent administration,” he cautioned.

Speaking during the 62nd Madaraka Day celebrations held Homa Bay county at the recently constructed Raila Odinga Stadium, Raila instead said that 62 years after achieving independence, the government of the day should be prioritizing devolution, as per the wishes of the country’s founding fathers, instead of backtracking to outdated governance models.

“Empower devolution by giving more resources to the counties so that they can be able to provide services to the people,” he stated.

In his address, Odinga also underscored the urgency needed to end ethnicity and called on leaders across the whole country to promote national unity as a pathway to tackling poverty and hunger.

He also narrated the struggle experienced in institutionalizing devolution in Kenya and emphasized the need by national government to support devolution.

“Today devolution has several challenges but I want to urge you your excellency to ensure that it works, there are those services that haven’t been devolved yet, I want to encourage you to devolve them to be implemented by the county governments” Raila said.

Morever, he urged lawmakers to not only ensure the allocation of the constitutionally-mandated Ksh 450 billion to county governments but also to exercise effective legislation, representative, oversight roles in ensuring those funds are utilized properly.

The ODM leader’s remarks come amid growing concerns over recent suggestions to reintroduce the provincial administration structure and concerns about underfunding at the county level.