Managing diversity in counties will foster a cohesive Kenya

A wave of violent conflicts is washing over multi-ethnic counties from Tana River to Lamu, Laikipia to Kajiado.

This is shattering the optimism that the newly created devolved units will promote a cohesive Kenya.

On September 8, 2015, a war for market stalls in Kitengela town rattled peace in the cosmopolitan Kajiado County after members of the Maasai community demanded that the county government award them half the space at the market as the land belongs to them.

The role of Kenya’s “devolution magic” in promoting unity in the face of diverse identities in order to realise the vision of “one indivisible sovereign nation” was a key theme during the 4th Annual Congress of the Forum of Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices in Eldoret from September 15-18, 2015.

SOCIAL COHESION
While highlighting a culture of constitutionalism and the values of integrity, good governance, justice, human rights, rule of law, democracy and equality as crucial in fostering cohesion in Kenya, the meeting underscored devolution as one of the three strategies in the constitution designed to promote a united Kenya free of tribalism, cultural and religious schisms.

One, the new constitution and corresponding Acts of Parliament created a slew of measures and institutions to foster social cohesion.

Foremost of these is the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), imbued with quasi-judicial powers to confront threats to national unity.

Philosophically, the elevation of cohesion into a nation-building strategy in the 21st century Kenya reflects the importance of the tactics, rules and strategies that allow people with diverse identities and differences to work together to ensure the survival of nations and, indeed, the human race.

NATIONAL VALUES
However, unity is not an end in itself; it is merely a means to a moral society. Notably, unity is strongest among thieves planning to rob a bank!

A cohesive Kenya must also be anchored on such values as freedom, justice, equality and human rights.

The second strategy is the recognition of diversity as a source of strength rather than a weakness or a negative force.

The preamble to the 2010 Constitution celebrates “our ethnic, cultural and religious diversity…”

As the case of America has shown, capacity to effectively manage diversity is central to successful nation-building.

Correctly described by Jimmy Carter as “a nation of differences”, America adopted the motto, E pluribus unum (Latin for “Out of many, one”) to underpin the world’s most powerful nation.

TOLERATING OUR DIVERSITY
Closer home, Kenya’s founding President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, popularised “Harambee” (“pull together”) as a rallying cry to harness national unity and development.

However, tolerance of diversity has become a supreme virtue and intolerance the main cause of civil wars across Africa.

As Albert Einstein once said, rather presciently, it is only by tolerating our diversity that we can set ourselves free and widen our circle of compassion to embrace our environment and its beauty of fauna and flora.

Devolution is the third strategy adopted by the architects of Kenya’s 2010 constitution to realise a cohesive Kenyan nation.

The real magic behind the new supreme law is the devolved system of government.

QUIET REVOLUTION

Devolution is established by Chapter 11 of the Constitution which provided for 47 counties.

Additionally, the County Governments Act (2012) created a government for each of the counties with executive and legislative powers to implement policies and plans.

In a sense, devolution is the hallmark of Kenya’s “quiet revolution” which has caught the imagination of the world.

The World Bank has hailed the system as “among the most rapid and ambitious devolution processes going on in the world.”

However, decentralisation of power is as old as the hills.

The real innovation of our times is the “developmental devolution” based on the thesis by Professor Amartya Sen, the Indian philosopher and economist who won the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics, that “development is freedom”.

RESOURCE-SHARING
At the heart of “developmental devolution” is the principle of resource-sharing between the national government and the devolved governments.

Deepening democracy is devolution’s second role.

This entails the reconfiguration of power at two levels. Horizontally, the new law applied Montesquieu’s doctrine of separation of power between three organs: executive, judiciary and the legislature.

Vertically, it shared power between the national and devolved tiers of government.

In this regard, the Forum of Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices – consisting of more than a dozen bodies created under Chapter 15 of the constitution – is part of this deepening of democracy.

DOUBLE-BARRELED
But the devolved system of government is a double-edged sword that can cut both ways.

While it makes governments more responsible, facilitates participatory decision making and brings the government closer to the people, devolution can lead to ethnicity, exclusion of minorities and amplify religious and cultural differences.

In some instances, devolution has led to separation, secession and state collapse.

The constitution requires that each of the counties ensure that 30 per cent of the jobs within are reserved for applicants from outside the county to render the face of Kenya to devolved governments. But implementing this rule remains a pipe dream.

RESOURCE CURSE
The discovery of oil in such counties as Turkana is importing the phenomenon of “resource curse” – deadly competition and conflict over local resources and investment – into counties.

Corrupt practices at the national level have been devolved to the grassroots.

Failure to effectively manage its diversity and ensure cohesion risks pushing Kenya to the tipping point.

Prof Kagwanja is Chief Executive, Africa Policy Institute, [email protected]