The Senate to be assertive in protecting interests of counties

NAIROBI, KENYA: In the joint opening session of Parliament this week, the President reminded the nation that ‘power is exercised more transparently when it is closest to the people’ and lamented that ‘for too long, decision-making has been concentrated in the hands of a few in Nairobi’. And hence, devolution will be central to his Government’s vision for the country. That put paid to concerns that Uhuru’s Government will not allow power and resources to cascade down to the counties.

The statement also implies a commitment to respect the priorities of the county governments in charting their own course as they seek to create wealth and reduce poverty. If his Government lives by this statement, it also means that all future national policies and laws emanating from the national government must take on board the counties’ interests ab initio. And so the raft of laws the President proposed in his legislative agenda as well as the many policy proposals he outlined in his speech must be designed to complement and support devolution.