Disbanding Transition Authority a bad idea

GEORGE OMONDI

There is no denying the fact that the story of devolution since the new Constitution was promulgated is  one of runaway success in various areas, and absolute disaster in others.

Launch of a new city in Machakos highlights visionary leadership which must be replicated in every other county if we are to realise the dream of total economic transformation.

ASPIRATIONS

When Governor Mutua and his ilk are burning the midnight oil to bring the desired results in fighting poverty and improving the welfare of their residents, another group is working round the clock to identify suitable blame for their in ability to take off and meet the aspirations of their people.

First it was the county commissioners who were accused of trying to overshadow the ‘elected’ governors as the representatives of the people. This created a standoff, which threatened to derail devolution until when efforts were made to clarify the respective roles of county governors on one hand and national government on the other.

In the meantime, while one group was laying blame, foresighted county leaders were busy laying the foundational pillars on which the dreams of their people would be anchored. Although the architects of our Constitution intended devolution to be realised with no hindrance, they still thought it was important to formulate safeguards to govern the process of devolution in order to promote a well structured transfer of functions and resources from the national government to the counties. This in turn would be a major boost to transparency and accountability.

The Transition Authority led  by Kinuthia Wamwangi is tasked with the analysis and the phased transfer of functions to the national and county governments; determination of resource requirements for each of the functions, developing a framework for the comprehensive and effective transfer of functions; and the development of county government budgets during phase one of the transition period which has largely been undertaken.

The TA is also charged with the establishing the status of ongoing reforms, developing programs and projects and making recommendations on the management, reallocation or transfer of resources to either level of government during the transition period.

In the first phase, the TA was to prepare and validate an inventory of all the existing assets and liabilities of government, other public entities and local authorities. In its short period of existence, the TA has done very well in carrying out a most delicate job of appraising the preparedness of counties for various functions while at the same time facilitating devolution.

In spite of this, a section of governors and other leaders has mischievously painted the TA as an meddler out to frustrate and not facilitate devolution. They are now calling for its disbandment replacing it with an intergovernmental relations committee as contained in the Miscellaneous Amendment bill 2013.

NON-PERFORMING

This poses a number of challenges. To begin with, if the real motivation of sending the TA packing is the appetite for raw power, this appetite will not be whetted by transferring its functions to another authority. In any event, a number of county government budgets have already been disapproved on account of wrong priorities and huge budget deficits. It instructive that the national government as well, reserves the right to abolish non performing counties which are no longer viable.

In the end, governors will still face the electorate in a short five years for accountability. The long and short of it is that by seeking to run away from the TA ,governors are jumping from the  frying pan to the fire as there will be need for answerability each step of the way.

Secondly, this will delay transfer of functions from the national government to the devolved units.

It also comes at a time when the TA is conducting analysis of parastatals and bloated institutions to identify those that require decentralisation or other measures to improve efficiency. Thirdly, it will lead to slow asset audit, transfer of staff payroll and records, finalisation of rationalization plan and staff deployment, facilitation of a capacity needs assessment of both levels of government and the validation and roll out of the National Capacity Building Framework.

Also at stake is the plight of hundreds of thousands of interim and contractual employees deployed at both national and county levels.

Where the Transition Authority has been found wanting, instead of throwing out the baby with the bath water, it would have been prudent to put more funds at the disposal of TA and boost efficiency in delivery of its core mandate.

The writer is  chairman of the Youth Devolution Caucus.