Governors meet to discuss progress of devolution

The road to devolution has been bumpy right from the start.

It has been a learning experience that has presented both exciting and frustrating moments for all players.

After many years of agitation, Kenya finally adopted the devolved system of government with the promulgation of a new Constitution on August 27, 2010.

The idea was to bring about self-governance—to make access to government services closer to the people and to ensure more participation by the people in the exercise of state powers and in decisions affecting them.

The intention was to have some sort of smaller quasi-autonomous political units and make county levels distinct and inter-dependent, conducting their mutual relations on the basis of consultation and cooperation.

It all started when the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, which was tasked to traverse the country and collect views about the type of constitution Kenyans wanted. Kenyans generously gave their views and devolution topped the list of their wishes.

Come 2010, devolution was used to lure Kenyans to endorse the new Constitution during a referendum held on August 4, 2010. With a 66 per cent to 34 per cent vote, the new Constitution was ratified.

It has not been a walk in the park though.

Predicting that it was unlikely to be a smooth process and perhaps reflecting on possible pitfalls, the Tenth Parliament—credited for handling a bulk of the constitutional implementation legal framework, enacted the Transition to Devolved Government Act in 2012 to ensure a smooth transition.

LEGISLATION

Necessary measures were also put in place through various legislation, key among them financial measures to ensure county governments would have reliable sources of revenue, to enable them govern and deliver services effectively.

A law was enacted to ensure that at least 15 per cent of the nationally collected revenue is channelled to the counties by the national government.

It would be on this platform that Kenya would go into a General Election in March 4, last year, an election that officially flagged off the process of implementation of the decentralized system of government with the election of officials to run and manage the County Governments as enshrined in the Constitution.

The first year of implementation of the system has seen serious conflicts among players with pushing and pulling as the transition proved not to be a so-easy exercise to achieve. The teething problems have been real.

As the country enters the second year of implementation, the tough question remains whether county governments are taking the right steps and whether their demands to take on all the devolved functions at once were realistic.

There has been apprehension from various concerned quarters, and it has been genuine. Arguments advanced include whether the 47 devolved governments have the capacity to absorb the weight of all the devolved services and functions at once and be able to deliver without interfering with the public service delivery system.

Although they demanded to have that done at once, stakeholders felt otherwise, especially in the area of health services and roads, insisting that they could only be devolved in phases.

Chapter Eleven of the Constitution outlines the principles and objects of devolution, outlining in detail the structures, powers and functions of the devolved units which include the County Assemblies and County Executives.

It also touches on the relationship between the two levels of Government and the role of Parliament in supporting the effective implementation of the county system.

TRANSFER OF POWER

In Section 187, it says a function or power of government at one level may be transferred to a government at the other level by agreement between the governments if it would be more effectively performed or exercised by the receiving government.

It goes further to state that if that is done, arrangements shall be put in place to ensure that the resources necessary for the performance of the same are available.

At the centre the confusion and disputes has been the Transition Authority, the body charged with ensuring a smooth transition. The body has withstood pressure from governors especially over what should and should not be devolved.

In the heat of the clash, TA has even been accused of collusion with the national government to derail and even frustrate the devolved governments and to maintain the status quo. But the Authority has insisted that it has done its part and strictly observed the law in so doing.

Concerns that devolution is under threat have become a norm with particularly the opposition claiming that the government is not committed to the process that is meant to promote even development in the country.

As retired president Kibaki prepared to exit from politics last year, there was discontent over the appointment of county commissioners to the 47 counties.

The move was interpreted by its critics who included former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to mean that the government was out to scuttle devolution.

Even a court ruling that declared the appointments unconstitutional did not help. Those deployed stayed on, amidst piling pressure that the law was not followed in their deployment to the counties.

An outcry by governors that functions supposed to be discharged by the county governments had not been devolved together with adequate funds also threatened operations at the county level.

Staff deployment at the counties has also been an issue with governors insisting that they have to recruit without interference from the national office.

Workers at the counties were asked to re-apply for available positions at the counties, if they were interested in them.

Supremacy wars between the members of the National Assembly and senators posed challenges to the success of devolution.

The two Houses spent valuable time engaging on who among them was superior to the other. At one time, the members of the National Assembly threatened to scrap the Senate claiming that they were a burden to the tax payer.

As the war of words escalated, it became clear that some of the MPs were not conversant with what the positions they vied for, entailed.
Devolution also saw the number of elected political leaders shoot up, a definite impact on the already too huge public wage bill.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) was forced to act, moving in to slash MPs’ salaries, an attempt that was vehemently rebuffed by the target group.

Devolution of health care system is also facing resistance. Medical practitioners are insisting on remaining under the national government until such a time when proper structures are put in place to enable them smoothly discharge their services under the county governments.

Some governors have also faced the heat with regard to measures they have adopted to raise revenue for their county governments after they unveiled their County budgets.

They have also been criticized over recruitment of staff at the expense of other devolved functions.

Currently, relations between the Senate and the county governments are strained over county expenditure and management of country affairs. Senators accuse governors of fiscal and monetary indiscipline and have vowed to rein in operations of county affairs.

Already a motion has been drafted by Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi to have the Senate form a select committee to review the various fees, levies and charges imposed by the 47 County Governments.

This is a further to another move to limit County recurrent expenditure through an amendment to the law has been mooted. Senators want the bulk of funds allocated to counties to go to development projects and not staff salaries as is happening.

Chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Devolved Governments Kipchumba Murkomen was quoted recently saying the Senate was determined to frustrate the bureaucracy in the counties.

The plan is to amend the Public Finance Management Act by increasing the development budget to 60 per cent of the total allocation to counties while reducing the recurrent budget to 40 per cent.

Senator Murungi in the latest move wants the Senate to review all taxes, land rates, business licences, levies and other charges introduced by County Governments, terming them arbitrary, exorbitant, excessive and punitive to businesses and consumers.

Dagoretti South MP Dennis Kariuki recently said Governors have left our Senators and MPs in County planning and decision making hence the conflict and that Parliament supports the Senate move arguing that recent measures would push the cost of living to unbearable levels for the common man.