National government must protect devolution

Nairobi; Kenya: The National Government is the foundation for successful devolution of power. It is also the bridge to the successful transition from a 50-year-old unitary government to a devolved system of governance.

County Governments are in their infancy. They lack the capacity and resources to fully and successfully absorb and effect their functions under the Constitution. For the short time that they have been in office, County Governments have been unable to assess and correct their failures.

The Constitution and the Laws of Kenya anticipated these shortcomings and recognised that County Governments would from time to time need the backing and bedrock support of the National Government. The Constitution and the laws, therefore, created a permanent safety net for County Governments. This safety net is the National Government.

The transfer of functions from the National to the County level was to be phased for a period of three years. This period ends in March 2016. For this period, and after, the National Government has a continuous responsibility to provide, at no cost, technical assistance to the counties and to assist them in capacity building. It has a constitutional and legal duty to see to it that these County Governments have all the financial and other resources necessary for them to succeed.

No function should have been transferred to any County Government unless and until the National Government was satisfied that it had the capacity to successfully take over and perform.

For example, if the counties have failed in delivery of health services, for any reason, the buck stops with the National Government. It was its constitutional and legal responsibility to ensure that any transfer of health functions and powers to any County Government was backed by all the resources necessary for that county to successfully provide health services.

Every county should have an inter-governmental forum consisting of heads of all departments of National Government offering services in the county and the members of the County Executive Committee. Such a forum should act as a liaison between the County and National Government in harmonisation of services and the co-ordination of development activities and functions.

The Ministry of Devolution can on its own initiative assess the performance of any County Government and prepare an assessment report setting out that county’s capacity needs and support requirements. Where there is need to, the Ministry should take measures to provide the support required. It also has the legal responsibility to assist county governments to identify the reasons for problems in their performance and offer solutions.

The Ministry for Finance has the legal obligation to assess the financial performance of any County Government and offer financial management solutions, whether or not such assistance has been requested for by the county.

The law establishes the National and County Government Co-ordinating Summit. The members of this summit are the President (or his deputy) and the 47 governors. One of its functions is to evaluate the performance of National and County Governments and recommend the appropriate action.

Parliament has carried out its part. It continues to do so. It has enacted the County Governments Act, Inter-governmental Relations act, Public Finance Management Act, Transition to Devolved Government Act, County Governments Public Finance Management Transition Act and National Government Co-ordination Act. If the letter and the spirit of these laws and the Constitution had been followed to the tee to date County Governments and devolution would be thriving.

County Governments have a constitutional right and legal authority to symbiotically feed off the National Government for all their needs until they have the capacity to stand on their own. Should devolution fail to take off in Kenya, such failure must be placed at the doorstep of National Government.