To reap from the counties we must fight corruption
What you need to know:
Devolution became part of our constitutional arrangement because certain sections of our Kenyan society felt — and probably still feel — that some other sections were favoured by the central government.
Back in 2010 when this column was pretty new I do remember mentioning that in the effort of trying to effect devolution we may actually devolve corruption.
- Our crime as ordinary Kenyans is that we have accepted that the nation belongs to politicians to manage it as they want. Is that what we want?
While all the issues of bidding farewell to the hero of multiparty democracy in Kenya — Kenneth Matiba — were going on, a rather important event was taking place in Kakamega. All the governors and other officials were there for the so-called “Devolution Conference”. What does that mean? Whatever it means they even played football and celebrated not only their existence but also their right to lead. The point that many of us Kenyans don’t understand — or perhaps just ignore — is that the good or bad political leaders we have are of our own making. We elect them, we make them, sometimes we worship them and a lot of that gets into their heads.
FANFARE
To come back to the events in Kakamega it may be appropriate for a proper thinking Kenyan to just pose and ask themselves whether this kind of fanfare could have happened in 1998 which is only 20 years ago. That sober–thinking Kenyan will tell you that the kind of scenario we now see could not have happened. But we are there and as a national community we cannot afford to go backwards. Devolution became part of our constitutional arrangement because certain sections of our Kenyan society felt — and probably still feel — that some other sections were favoured by the central government. Was that really the case or was that people in those places worked harder than the rest?
SQUABBLING
Whatever the case, our 2010 Constitution brought in a new way of doing things. It is true that there have been issues between the National Assembly and the Senate. There have been major squabbles between MCAs and their governors in some places. Then there have been other differences between governors and their deputies. To many Kenyans this may be discouraging. We must, however, not be put off. It is probably out of such tensions that a proper synthesis of a nation will emerge. We must come to terms that this country belongs to us and not just to those squabbling “leaders”. Our crime as ordinary Kenyans is that we have accepted that the nation belongs to them to manage it as they want. Is that what we want?
CRONYISM
Back in 2010 when this column was pretty new I do remember mentioning that in the effort of trying to effect devolution we may actually devolve corruption. It has come to pass that corruption, nepotism and cronyism in the counties are rife. One wonders whether at this rate Kenya will ever get to where we aspire to go and how long it will take. The trouble with us is that in many things we keep trying to re-invent the wheel. There are models of development around the world that work. Why don’t we just apply them?
The writer is dean of students at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]
