Devolution represents major transformation of State

The August 8 General Election will be the second under the new constitutional dispensation that ushered in the devolved system of governance. The road to devolution has been long and tortuous. As a matter of priority, the immediate post-colonial government addressed the grievances aired during the independence struggle.

Through ‘Sessional Paper No. 10 of 1965 on African Socialism and its Application to Planning in Kenya’, the government laid down development policies aimed at correcting regional imbalances and eradicating poverty, ignorance and disease.

But this was not to be, as many years down the line, regional imbalances continued to widen. With the advent of devolution, however, that gap is slowly being bridged. In just under five years, the country has been able to achieve what it could not in the over 50 years of independence.

For starters, devolution was at the core of the formation of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission that was headed by Prof Yash Pal Ghai between 2000 and 2004. The Constitution of Kenya Review Act (2000) required the commission to consider the people’s participation through devolution of power, respect for ethnic and regional diversity and communal rights.

There is no gainsaying the fact that with the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya (2010), the citizens are now enjoying the fruits of devolution. More than ever before, the government is now more responsible and closer to the governed; decision making is participatory and to some extent, economic development in the whole country is being balanced.

A key sector that has made notable strides since the advent of devolution is health. In Kisumu County, for instance, kidney and cancer patients can now access treatment at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital instead of travelling all the way to the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi.

MEDICAL INTERVENTION

New renal or dialysis centres have been established in Kisii, Mombasa, Meru, Nyeri, Bomet, Murang’a, Kiambu and recently, in Machakos. This has brought life-saving medical intervention closer to the people, and at affordable prices for kidney patients.

Public private partnerships also continue to grow at the county level. Collaboration between Kisumu County, for instance, and the World Bank Group, as well as its donor partners, namely the British Department for International Development and the Dutch Government, saw the launch a year ago of the e-Construction Permit System, to reduce the cost of doing business.

Architects and property developers are now able to apply and submit building proposals online, which saves them from making trips to the Town Planning Department. In addition, through its Transform Kisumu agenda, the county government appointed global roving ambassadors, who are pitching for foreign direct investment in the county.

DEVOLUTION'S ENEMIES

That notwithstanding, county governments cannot rest on their laurels as they enjoy the fruits of devolution. It is not lost on observers that there are enemies of devolution who are working day and night to scuttle the system. It all began with the killing of Dr Odhiambo Mbai, who chaired the Devolution Committee in the constitutional review.

Still, the naysayers are hell-bent on frustrating equitable sharing of public resources to frustrate devolution. The perennial delays of the disbursement of funds from the National Treasury and frequent breakdowns of the Integrated Financial Information Management System continue to hamper development and has been a major cause of pecuniary embarrassment to the county governments.

While some governors have used devolution to bring development to their people, others have presided over corrupt systems, where tribalism and nepotism are a rule rather than an exception. Meritocracy has been thrown out of the window and appointments are made based on clan considerations. Still others have engaged in conspicuous consumption at the expense of development.

This explains why some were rejected in the party primaries. Members of the county assemblies have not fared any better, earning illegal allowances from superfluous ‘benchmarking’ trips. Devolution represents a major transformation of the State and, in the course of time, society. It has reversed the oppressive system of control and authority established by the colonial powers and perpetuated by the successive regimes.

Zachary Ochieng is a media and public relations consultant based in Nairobi; [email protected].