Kenya has no option but to implement devolution, Nyachae

NAIROBI: The promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provided an invaluable opportunity to translate the people’s aspirations, among them equality and inclusivity, into a legal framework. The power of self-governance by the people and their enhanced participation in decision-making are among the inalienable rights of the people of Kenya under this constitution. Primarily, the objective of decentralisation of governance in Kenya is to devolve power, resources, and decision making down to the most basic level. Ultimately, Kenyans expect progressive enhancement of their socio-economic development, access to efficient public service and governance by the rule of law.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution Act, 2010, mandates the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) to, among other roles, monitor the effective implementation of the system of devolved government. In fulfilment of this mandate, CIC has visited all the 47 counties, organised public forums with residents of the various counties and held meetings with county governments to study, assess, document and communicate the progress in implementation of the system of devolved government.

The commission notes that generally, significant progress has been made in the implementation of the system of devolved government.

Virtually all laws required under the Fifth schedule to the Constitution to give effect to the system of devolved government are in place. In addition, a number of laws not listed in the fifth schedule but which are critical for the implementation of the system of devolved government have been identified, developed and passed. Most counties are also in the process of developing and/or have passed crucial laws to implement functions assigned to them. More than half of the counties have also facilitated access by their staff to the devolution-related laws. County governments have also set up libraries and documentation centres from which these documents can be accessed for reference.

Other milestones include the development of County Government Structures and Systems. All 47 counties have established functional County Assemblies and Executive structures. Most of the functions assigned to county governments have been transferred to the counties and are being implemented.

In terms of human capacity development, all counties have established County Public Service Boards and County Assembly Service Boards. These boards commenced work, including recruitment of staff, undertaking capacity needs assessment, and facilitating training of their staff. It is also worthy to note that all the 47 counties have established functional county treasuries and installed the Integrated Finance Management Information System (IFMIS) for efficient service delivery to the people.

These gains have not been without challenges. The challenges have been identified and acknowledged by stakeholders and have informed both public and political discourse in the country. Politicisation of the devolution process and its implementation is a major problem. Elite capture of the implementation discourse in the country in which Wanjiku - the intended beneficiary of the new constitutional dispensation - is left out, is yet another. Constant power struggles and turf wars among leaders and institutions have not helped the implementation process either.

Other challenges include skewed and biased media and public perception that all county governments are either corrupt, inefficient and wasteful. Very little attention is given to the performance of the national government. As a result, Kenyans are beginning to think that it is the county governments that have failed to ensure their security in the wake of terrorist attacks. It is noteworthy that terrorist attacks have impacted negatively on implementation of devolution in a number of counties.

The delay in rationalising the human resource component of the county governments has also added to the challenges in the implementation of devolution.

The transition to devolved government began with hesitant steps. With the benefit of hindsight, a number of these steps could have been done better. For example, the transfer of functions which in some cases were done without sufficient, if any, unbundling of the functions allocated to the counties, resulted in confusion and misunderstanding. Some confusion remains in some sectors such as the road sector and disaster management, just to mention but a few.

These transition uncertainties may have created an impression that devolution is a difficult or even impossible experiment. The posturing and tug-of-war between some leaders and institutions on the one hand and between the national government and county governments on the other have come to define our political landscape. This has added to the gloomy picture of devolution.

As CIC, we however remain fully persuaded that these are problems associated with any change, and particularly a radical transition as is envisaged in the constitution. The Commission remains convinced that if we are to be true to Wanjiku, Kenya has no option but to effectively implement the system of devolved government. Sustaining the momentum and commitment to implementing devolution will go a long way in delivering on the aspirations of Kenyans.

The solutions to our problems are known and provided for in the Constitution. Government at both levels - leaders, institutions, State officers and the citizens of Kenya must reject attitudes and practices that claw back on the gains made. History has placed on us the responsibility of turning Wanjiku’s aspirations to a transformed reality. What is needed is for all Kenyans to develop a culture of constitutionalism and respect for the rule of law.

  — The author is the Chairman, Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution