Devolution rollout: Is the new order half full or half empty?

By Kethi D Kilonzo

Devolution is about equitable sharing of power and resources.  It is about self governance and giving people the power to determine their priorities in applying their finances.

The law as is, provides a staircase for County Governors, County Assemblies and their Executive Committee to showcase devolution and its potential in their respective counties.

For the first time they have been allocated 15 per cent of the national revenue collectively.  They have been given the power to budget for and allocate these funds towards county projects.   

Though there is a sound basis for deepening of the percentage of allocation of National Revenue, counties must make the most of what they now have.

  Counties have a House of Parliament whose primary purpose is to oversee county matters. The Senate has the powers to create model laws and policies for county governance and financial management.  This is a resource begging to be tapped.

There are County Assemblies that can pass county laws to collect revenue for county governments from within. 

The Constitution gives the county government powers over, among other things, agriculture, health services, public amenities, county transport, local tourism, trade licensing, land survey and mapping, and energy regulation.  These are functions that the county governments can use to widen their revenue bases through creative legislation by their County Assemblies.

Each county has its own legislative body and executive committee.  These two bodies can respectively pass both laws and create policies to regulate county affairs.

There is an Equalization Fund. It should consist of 1.5 per cent of all the revenue collected in the previous financial year.  It can only be used to provide for water, roads, health facilities and electricity to marginalized areas.  Has any qualifying county government made a case for allocation of these funds?

The Constitution contemplates that devolution can be deepened vertically as well as horizontally. And there is a lot that can be done legally and administratively to widen the scope of devolution.

The debate about the scope of any such change should be welcomed and not shunned.  At the same time, we must continue to ask, what is the county government doing for us?

Constitutional Development Fund  (CDF) was once one of the yardsticks that was used by the electorate to evaluate the performance of their Members of Parliament. 

Many Members of Parliament failed to be re-elected because of dissatisfaction with their management of CDF. 

County governments are seedbeds for future national leaders.  Governors should not lose this opportunity to showcase their leadership and management abilities.