Devolution still holds great promise for us

From left: Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo and Asset Recovery Director Muthoni Kimani participate in corruption discussion during the 4^th Devolution Conference in Naivasha. (Photo: Beverlyne Musili/Standard)

This week's Devolution Conference in Naivasha left me with a sense of achievement and expectation. The first phase of devolution is coming to an end but the journey to self-governance, public empowerment and universal public services has just started.

Overall, all devolutionaries can be justifiably proud of the significant shift of political and financial power to 47 smaller governance units in line with Article 174 of the Constitution. New oversight mechanisms like the County Assemblies, right to information and public participation laws and county fora, have expanded the space for citizens to influence local governance. Counties now receive substantial flows in revenue from national government and some like Kiambu County have successfully begun to generate domestic taxation to meet the gaps.