Treasury has yet to address the costs of running a devolved government

As Kenyans look forward to enjoying the benefits of the new Constitution, it is important to examine some of the challenges that lie ahead in the implementation of the new governance system.

And although we have started dealing with some of the challenges, we are yet to appreciate the financial demands of the implementation process, the personnel requirements and the management of public understanding and expectations.

According to the supplementary estimates released in 2008, the 2007 General Election cost Kenyans Sh5 billion. This amount may go up five times in 2012 as we now have elections for governors, their deputies, county assembly members and senators.

This venture

We cannot tell for now what arrangements are being made to set aside the money to finance this venture but there are concerns being expressed by some observers that nothing yet is being done about it.

There have been suggestions to set aside some of the required funds in this year’s budget with the balance being provided in the 2012 budget. It is said that issues like elections are so critical to national interests and security that no donor funding can be accepted in financing them.

Some observers fear that not attending to the matter now will result in Treasury finding itself unable to provide for the numerous yet unknown expenses that will arise from this new constitutional order. This could result in having to source for donor funds which may compromise national interests.

We can only hope that the silence on this issue means that someone is working on it away from the public light and that the fears being expressed are unnecessary.

What we could run out of time for is the training of personnel required to run our new system of government. After 2012’s election, we shall wake up to a new governance structure that we know little about. We shall have elected governors that have little knowledge of what being a governor is all about and county assembly members that will be similarly lost.

Since each of these structures are new, none will have a bureaucracy to fall back on for guidance and each will have to build its bureaucracy and civil service structure from scratch.

With each county starting the implementation of its system from the beginning, some may never manage to set up a workable system.

There is no assurance that each governor elected will have the competence to set up an administrative and governance structure. In fact, the history of our elections warns us that some governors will be comically incompetent.

No uniformity

Worse is the fact that all these county governments will have no uniformity. Each will be set along the visions of their governor and travelling from one county to another will feel like international migration. In the passage of time, national cohesion will have been set back many years.

Added to the challenges of the county executive is those that will face the assemblies. Each will have to set its rules and procedures and will have to employ qualified legislative administrators to do so.

These administrators are not there as there has previously only been one employer – the National Assembly.

Where will the county assemblies get the clerks to help them set up a legislative system? I have this picture in my mind of 47 Speakers of County Assemblies across the country so ignorant of how to carry out their duties that all they can do is keep shouting “Order! Order!”.

Of grave urgency is the immediate training of assembly clerks who will assist in the running of the county assemblies. And they must be trained in time to give them practical working experience at the National Assembly before it is dissolved to pave way for the next general election.

A training programme should also be started for those who want to become governors. They need to be taught about public administration, bureaucracy, ethics and governance, and the whole host of competencies needed to run a county and manage a Sh3 billion budget.

Though this training is voluntary, the voter in the next election will have more confidence in the candidate that has taken time to take this administrative course and has passed the examinations on it.

We must do whatever possible not to expose Kenyans to the tender mercies of incompetent administrators entrusted with funds to deliver essential services to the counties. And the usage of CDF in many constituencies over the years should warn us what we may be faced with come 2013.

This brings up the third concern: public understanding and expectation. I don’t think the public knows how much their lives will be affected by the new system of administration. Nor do they, I believe, understand the devolution of duties from the central government to the county administration, and the effect of the withdrawal of central government involvement in some areas of their lives.

We seem to be satisfied with the civic education that was conducted in the campaigns for the referendum but that was a sales and marketing drive. Now we must tell the people what the Constitution means to their everyday live.

Misinform the people

I anticipate that in some areas, the local political elite will gang up to misinform the people about the Constitution and use their ignorance to live large on Sh3 billion a year.

In other areas, the people will continue to look up to the central government for the provision of devolved services with a resultant sense of abandonment when they learn of the new arrangements.

You can well imagine what would be the effect on national stability if every other county was holding demonstrations against their governor or other organs of their county administration. In this way, matters that for now appear to be purely local concerns may escalate to become issues of national importance.

The Committee for Implementation of the Constitution must as urgently as it is attending the other obvious issues of implementation start dealing with these peripheral matters.

As the only non-partisan player in the implementation, it must start preparing the country to run the new system of government and must also educate the public on life under the new constitutional order.

Mr Mwangi is an advocate of the High Court. [email protected]