For peoples’ sake, restore sanity in counties

High expectations followed the promulgation of the new Constitution by former President Kibaki on August 27, 2010. The country had adopted a new system of governance that the citizens believed held a lot of promise for them in terms of development. Of particular interest was the concept of devolution. Under devolution, most government services were to be decentralised to the counties to preclude instances where people had to travel long distances to get certain services from government offices in Nairobi. A relatively new concept without precedent, devolution took off, apparently on the wrong footing, and attempts to remedy the situation so far appear to be largely unsuccessful.

The precursor to the malady that pervades counties in terms of leadership paralysis has its genesis in Embu County where Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) sought to impeach the Governor, citing all manner of misdeeds. In quick succession, this has spread to other counties, notably Kericho, Bungoma, Machakos, Busia and Makueni. Underlying the claims and counter-claims in the impeachment battles, is nothing more than the governors’ reluctance to dance to the tune of the MCAs and supremacy duels with political undertones.