Is devolution reversing the brain drain?

In the past, county councils were famous as repositories of uneducated or pseudo educated men and women.

The media made lots of jokes about kanjoras (councillors) and their uncouth behaviour. Few derived pride working in the county councils except when grabbing plots. The 2010 constitution brought in devolution and that changed the status of the county councils, and their work force.

A look at nominees for county executives and other top level positions in a number of counties shows the education status of workers has gone up. In Nyeri, two cabinet members have a PhD including the governor himself, Dr Wahome Gakuru. He says getting such highly educated and capable cabinet leaves him with time to focus on seeking investment and other high value tasks.

To show the demand for county jobs, 80 applied for 10 cabinet positions and 500 for 10 chief officers in Nyeri. The same pattern is noted in a number of other counties. A number of counties have governors as PhD holders including Makueni, Machakos, Kisumu, Kericho and Bomet.

Did you know any genuine PhD holder who worked for any county council in the past? Top county employees without a PhD have a master’s degree or are in class. The number of MCAs who are well educated has gone up too.

These highly educated men and women used to leave their counties for the cities or abroad. They constituted a serious brain drain leaving the countryside short of highly educated manpower. If you ever attended the chief’s baraza, you got an idea on the ravages of brain drain.

Interestingly, the reverse brain drain or brain gain is taking place at the national level with lots of Kenyans returning from abroad to take national duties. They include MPs, senators, judges and commissioners of constitutional bodies.

Good pay could be one factor, but prestige is another. It works for both returnees. Those returning to the counties find they are more respected or even feared because of their connection to the city or because of big titles. In the city, no one has time to call them waziri, mheshimiwa. Those returning from abroad are treated with respect and at times with awe. After all, not many Kenyans are proud owners of a passport or have travelled abroad (majuu).

The returning employees to county government or to national government are benefitting from information asymmetry. Not enough is known about the city by rural folks. Not enough is known about majuu or abroad by majority of Kenyans. For example, how many of us can differentiate a good American university from a bad one?  No wonder lots of folks are quick to disclose the country they schooled and not the university. Coming back to the county or country raises your profile because there is less competition and less information about you. Your interviewers might be equally awed and mesmerized by your qualifications and where you got them from.

Brain gain 

Dr Gakuru says desire to serve is a greater attraction for the highly educated than money. My conversation with a number of Kenyans abroad seems to support that. They all dream of returning home to make the country a better place. Some don’t shout that low paying jobs can open doors to other more lucrative opportunities. Low paying jobs can be foot-on-the door, to use a term that makes one appear schooled.

Once they are back to county or country, they find that cultural forces can be overwhelming. I can testify to that after 6 years sojourn in Mississippi and Kentucky. Can the returnees to both places share their experience? An invisible force drags you down anytime you try to do something good for the institution, county or country.  

We could persuasively argue that the reverse brain drain or brain gain is not really so, it’s a brain over flow because of fast expansion of higher education. Even the newest university has postgraduate programmes up to PhD. These graduates have to look for jobs where they can be found-in the counties where they face little competition. That is creating education inflation; one needs more education for the same old job. That is why we have positions of graduate clerks in banks.

Other observers are more comical about the brain gain. They argue that if you can’t compete at national level, just devolve yourself to the counties where you will become an instant star. If you can’t compete at international level, just return to your country. We shouldn’t discount patriotism and economic or family connections.

There is something positive about brain gain. County leadership can be a good seedbed for national leadership. In the USA, lots of presidents started off as governors from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton; 17 out of 45 presidents, a whopping 38 percent. Who will be the first Kenyan governor to become the president?

What are the intended and unintended consequences of this brain gain or overflow? Should we celebrate it?

The presence of highly educated men and women at the grassroots will raise the profile of counties and their jobs. The demonstration effect could raise the aspirations of the next generation; they can see big posts within their reach. Students will stop asking “wale wamesoma, wameenda wapi”. Counties can now be places to aspire to work and call home. They have been graveyards, where we only visit when one of our friends or relative is being buried.

The brain gain should be reflected in county transformation. We expect a shift from pessimism to optimism. We expect higher economic growth, higher productivity-doing more with less. Most importantly, we expect new ideas, innovations from these “new comers.” Countries that gain brains like USA are expected to grow faster in the long run; we expect the same in the counties that gain brains.

There is a risk that lots of top job holders with good qualifications are coming home to rest, in familiar territory.  That could lead to complacency; it is hard for governors to punish their home boys or girls. The cabinet lists of most governors seem to reflect the faces of the counties. More diversity would dilute the “nyumbani effect”. Counties should attract non local brains which act as catalyst of change and transformation.

Aptitude tests

Will lack of competition among the highly educated at county level lead to adverse selection? Once we realise our higher degrees can get us jobs, we could pursue the certificates not for the knowledge that goes with that but the job it can get us. That will change brain gain to certificate gain. How many counties use aptitude tests in their recruitment?

Well managed, the brain gain could transform our counties into places of hope and dreams. After all, they are our homes, and will always be. Can you analyse the economic dividends of brain gain to California or Massachusetts?

—The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi.