Devolution in Kenya
In the year 2010, Kenyans voted to decentralize government, ushering in a new era of leadership with 47 governors and their teams taking up the reins of power in newly-created counties. The expansive Northern Kenya was not left out, creating the three counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera.
These 47 new county governments are now in charge of overseeing some functions— such as the provision of health care, pre-primary education, and maintenance of local roads— which were previously the responsibility of Kenya’s national government. In turn, these county governments will receive a share of national revenues. The county governments will also be expected to mobilize revenue from other sources within their counties, such as taxes on property and entertainment.
Northern Kenya and Devolution.
The people of the North have been marginalized by both the colonial and successive Kenyan governments for whatever reasons. This marginalization has greatly affected the lives and the livelihoods of communities in North for a very long time. The communities have ushered the end of the 1st decade of the 21st Century with joy after devolution was introduced; only for new wolves in the name of GOVERNORS to start dimming the end of tunnel lights.
The adoption of devolved system of government in Kenya was a desire of citizens who wanted access to public services closer to them. But is that happening in the North? A million dollar question!
It is well known that Northern Kenya is falling behind the rest of the country in terms of economic wellbeing and sensible development , despite receiving substantial monies in the last 8 years through devolution. To put this into perspective, the 3 counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera received approximately KSH 260 Billion in the last 9 years.
Perhaps because of the nature of the politics involved and the complex local dynamics involved there has been few meaningful discussions on what the region has achieved in the last 8 years and the value of the investments done by the respective county governments.
Even though it is extremely difficult to summarize this voluminous and multifaceted nodus, it is perhaps fair to say that few strands of thoughts stand out. A few standout issues are derailing the masses to realize the fruits of devolution.
Vendor driven development
Devolution has introduced to us; the rural Northern Kenya folks a new profession called CONTRACTORS, and how vendor driven development work is enriching this class is relatable to all of us; give me a minute to explain.
A certain contractor with good connection identifies a project for himself to implement, he sells the idea to key decision makers in the county and just like that, BURDURAS village of Mandera West Sub County needs a world class slaughter house ( this is just an example) at the cost of 100 Million. First of all, this project is not a priority for the end users in Burduras, secondly the cost is highly inflated ( we will get to this) and that is the kind of development projects we have in our counties as a result of devolution.
From a state lodge in Ijara Sub County to a modern Market in Sala village, Lafey Sub County. The impact of vendor driven development is felt across the region.
Rampant corruption.
Corruption is a national issue, it’s affecting service delivery in Kenya, but let’s face it, the corruption in our region is on another level and those who are skeptical, kindly read about the Kenya corruption index before unwittingly insulting my small brain.
When a vendor identifies a project for himself, he will pay at-least 10% of the project value as a bribe to the awarding committee (read person), due to uncertainty on payments the vendor will ensure at least 20% saving from project, the accountants and budget holders at the lower level always ask for approximately 10% of the project value as a bribe to facilitate payments and the engineers who certify the project was implemented per BOQ will ask for a kickback of approximately 5% and ofcos VAT of 16% has to be paid. Even before project implementation 61% of the project money has already been utilized.
At the end of the day, the people of BURDURAS will get a 100M slaughter house that they don’t need on paper, kwa-ground they get a shapeless and useless building, that they don’t even understand how to utilize. The only beneficiary at the end user level are bats who takeover the building after few weeks. And that is the story of we have nothing to show for our devolution investments.
Clan dominance.
The winning clan ‘takes all’ politics is visible in the three Counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera. The majority clan in power sees the 5 years as it’s their turn to eat – that is, to access state resources. This means that minority groups are excluded from access to resource. Corruption and clientelism (the exchange of material resources for political support) are endemic in the three counties. Service delivery to the local community takes a back seat as those in leadership positions reward clan loyalty after the electioneering period.
The County cabinet and chief officers are often recruited with the clan lens taking a central role; from that point onwards merit and qualification are alien to the ears ( if they have any) and the heart (only for pumping blood) of the greedy governors and their cronies. And if you ask me; this is one of the biggest challenges facing devolution in the North.
Due to tribalism and nepotism experienced at county level which in most cases determines who is to be employed. Unqualified people end up occupying jobs they do not have skills for thus affecting service delivery. High corruption in County Governments is common in recruitment of personnel, county public procurement, county financial management, planning and management of county projects and county legislative duties! And this hampers the vision of the new constitution.
Lack of capacity to facilitate service delivery
Their is lack of understanding of key issues around devolution that is generating a great deal of mistrust among stakeholders in the Northern counties.The reality is that our county governments lack the capacity to deliver services despite efforts to address capacity needs especially Human Resources; but when clan appointments out weight systemic recruitment processes what do you expect?
The people of the North are not asking for many services; we just need improved healthcare services, running clean and safe water and quality education; is that even a lot to ask for? And yet, we are experiencing gaps in those basic human needs despite the huge investments. The fattening of our governors and their flower girls are only evident outcomes of devolution in our counties.
Conclusion
Elect fucking good leaders; the thieves currently occupying those offices are causing more harm than good.
Written by Sugow Mathey
Northern Frontier District resident
Northern Nomad 