In spite of all politics we should celebrate devolved system

There is a lot of talk during these times of electioneering and when one listens to some of it there may be a temptation to think nothing good has happened in this country.

Of course they tell us that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and how one looks at things is determined by what their interests are.

During times such as these, there are certain values that suffer a great deal.

Objectivity and truth are major casualties as opposite sides of the political divide try to outdo each other.

Whoever the credit goes to, there is one aspect of our social economic development that is the fruit of the 2010 Constitution which has moved our country to greater heights in spite of all the challenges.

DEVOLUTION

Here I am thinking about the reality of devolution.

It is true a little form of devolution had already started with the Kibaki Narc government when the act on the Constituency Development fund was enacted.

Resources began moving to the constituencies from the central government.

With the establishment of 47 counties and the law enacted to allow for the sharing of resources a whole new way of doing governance emerged.

We have experienced it for the last four years and we will accept the fact there have been quite some difficult moments.

GOVERNORS DIFFERED

Governors differed with the central government over the amounts.

Within their counties some of them suffered humiliation in the hands of their county assemblies who had a great appetite for travelling to far off places to “benchmark”.

One thorny question that cannot go unmentioned is the provision of medical services which is one of those function that were devolved to the county.

It certainly has not been all plain sailing but one can agree that a good bit has been achieved.

The truth is that whatever gains we see today have a lot to do with the changes we made to our constitutional framework.

REFORMED JUDICIARY

Some of these gains are for instance the institutions such as the IEBC, the county governments, the SRC, a reformed Judiciary and so on.

It would be a great danger if elections become an excuse to dilute the hard work that was done in establishing such institutions.

We see a lot of this when the electoral commission is under continuous attack over this or that other question.

It is as if some politicians do not feel complete until they micro-manage the work of such bodies.

My submission is that we cannot call ourselves a civilised society if we cannot respect the very institutions we ourselves have by law established.

Uncivilised people do not believe in the rule of law and honesty.   

Writer is Dean of Students at the University of Nairobi [email protected]