Financial prudence critical in counties

When Kenyans opted for devolution, the single most important driving motivation was to address skewed resource allocation, and top-down decision making by the central government which influenced how, what and which development priorities for every corner of the country. We developed a model of devolution that allowed county residents to determine their leaders through universal suffrage, and establish both an executive branch of government, and a legislative arm that will together determine their priorities while providing appropriate checks and balances to ensure effective service delivery and equitable development across the nation. Devolution was to place sufficient resources at the grassroots to fairly develop all areas, devoid of political patronage and official wastage.

In drafting the public finance chapter in particular in the Constitution, we created a robust system similar to that of the national government in budget-making and approval process, fiscal responsibilities and financial management that allows the county assemblies to exercise enhanced oversight over the process. Once funds were transferred to a county, it was up to the county government which comprises both the executive and the assembly, to decide how to spend it, quite independently from the National Treasury.