Ills that counties are yet to cure

The general elections held in March 2013 ushered in a devolved system of government in Kenya. This means that 2023 marks 10 solid years in which Kenya has been implementing the devolved system of government. The devolution conference will be held between 15^th to 19^th August 2023 in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu county under the theme “10 years of devolution: The present and the future” and under a sub-theme “driving transformation from the local level: county Governments as the centre of economic development”. The theme is adequate because indeed, counties have clocked ten years and the fact that it is through counties as the new frontiers of development can the country achieve the middle-income status envisaged under the Kenya Vision 2030.

Devolution was expected to address many challenges four of which are important for this discussion. First to ensure enhanced public participation at the grassroots in the county affairs; and secondly to address resource mismanagement. Thirdly it was to ensure greater inclusion of all segments of the society into the decision making; and fourthly designed to cure perceived and real cases of inequalities amongst regions, which led to great levels of marginalization and under-development. The promotion of socio-economic development and provision of easily accessible services throughout Kenya are some of the objectives of devolution. To achieve these objectives, counties are mandated to raise revenues and to develop, implement budgets, plans and policies to provide effective services that ultimately improve the wellbeing of Kenyans.

Four challenges need to be addressed going forward for devolution to make sense. First, counties have largely failed to effectively engage the public on some of the major projects to be funded through taxpayers’ money. There is need for counties to publish popular versions of their budgets and plans to encourages greater public participation. They are expected to establish and operationalize County Budget and Economic Forums (CBEF) and equip them with the requisite professionals and other stakeholders for meaningful participation and development of the agenda for which they are established. The public should be given adequate time to scrutinize county documents and plans and to make meaningful comments and suggestions through which governance, accountability and sustainability concepts can be actualized for accelerated development.

Secondly is the underutilization of development votes and funds and more use of the recurrent expenditure, despite attempts to cap the development expenditure at 30 percent and recurrent at 70 percent. Thirdly is the inherent low own source revenue generation; fourthly is the human resource and capacities to implement county developments. Dr Giti is an urban management, public – private partnerships (PPP) and environment specialist. mutegigiti@gmail.com , @danielgiti