Cohesion body identifies devolution hotspots

Lawyer Otiende Amollo addresses participants at a National Cohesion and Integration Commission conference on devolution as envisaged in the Constitution at at Norfolk Hotel, Nairobi September 29, 2011 NCIC has flagged five Kenyan counties as potential hotspots in the rollout of devolution. ANTHONY OMUYA

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission has flagged five Kenyan counties as potential hotspots in the rollout of devolution as enshrined in the Constitution.

Speaking at a meeting with editors at Nairobi’s Norfolk Hotel Thursday, the team cited Migori, Bungoma, Lamu, Mombasa and Nakuru as among those in which tensions are mounting as some of the locals feel aggrieved over the fear of marginalisation.

In a report, the NCIC goes on to say that in Kuria constituency (Migori County) and Mt Elgon (in Bungoma County), given the ethnic lens through which everything in Kenya is looked at, the Kuria and the Sabaot feel that their marginalisation by the dominant communities will escalate under the county governments.

“For example, the Kuria community has mapped out three alternatives if they do not benefit through the implementation of devolution in their local context,” noted the NCIC report on the aspirations and challenges of devolution.

“The community has resolved to stay silent and aloof from the entire process; secede to join their fellow Kurias across the border in Tanzania or initiate an armed struggle (for recognition)”.

The commission vice chairperson, Mary Onyango, said there was need for more debate and dialogue on the way power and resources are going to be shared in the country, otherwise, there was likely to be chaos.

“If we do not get devolution right, we’d have sold this country,” she said, insisting that the commission had identified devolution as one of the “possible key drivers of conflict”.

She regretted that in the run-up to the constitutional referendum one year ago, the country was preoccupied with sensational debates to an extent that the sleeping monster in devolution was not adequately addressed.

“Having missed the bus in the run-up to the referendum, this is the time to discuss this important issue,” she said.

Dr Ahmed Yassin, a commissioner with NCIC, also pointed out that there were simmering grievances especially in Mombasa and Lamu, where locals are feel that the devolution of power and resources is meant to benefit them and not “outsiders residing in the locality”.

“They argue that devolution was meant to bring self-governance to the locals. They feel that watu wa bara (those not indigenous to the Coast) should not, for example, be elected as governors. Some of them say that there’s no point of devolution if all that is being done is having an upcountry person take up positions of leadership at the Coast,” said Dr Yassin.

Dr Yassin also noted that there was the wrong notion that only locals of a particular county should work in that county, and questioned how the legal requirement of having the face of Kenya will be achieved in mono-ethnic counties. He also added that the case where there are two dominant ethnic (like in Nakuru), the rest of the communities in the county are likely to feel disenfranchised if the big two decide to work through deals.

Lawyer Otiende Amolo said devolution was key to unlock the dreams of Kenyans under the Constitution and urged that the supremacy battles between the Treasury and the Taskforce on Devolved Governments should be brought to an end.

He said the fears about domination of “smaller communities” by the “bigger ones” within counties will come to an end if these are captured in the laws being made in Parliament and also the specific laws to work within the counties.

“Counties have powers to make laws relevant to the needs of the specific county, as long as these laws do not impede the human rights as enshrined in the Constitution or contradict national legislation,” said Mr Amolo, who sat in the defunct Committee of Experts, which wrote the Constitution.

He said the aspiration should be in toning down the ethnic undertones in governance, because, that way, the debate will shift to issues.

“The day half of central Kenya will be Luo; and the day half of Nyanza will be Kikuyu, is a day we must long for,” he added, noting that it will be possible for the people to be elected anywhere regardless of their ethnic background.