We risk paying a heavy price if state stifles devolution

If not for devolution counties of Mandera, Isiolo, Marsabit, Turkana, Garissa and Wajir would be desolate, depressing and deserted. [Photo: Courtesy]

This week I have been in one of my regular sojourns in the “other Kenya” comprising of northern Kenya counties of Mandera, Isiolo, Marsabit, Turkana, Garissa and Wajir.

Nothing makes me appreciate how spoilt we who live in “down Kenya” are than being in the North.

It is also the place that makes me appreciate the value of devolution.

But for devolution, these places would be desolate, depressing and deserted.

Unfortunately, this positive story of devolution risks being stymied if the current actions of the national government are not halted.

Let me restate what I have stated; the very survival of this country depends on the success of devolution.

Anyone who considers devolution an irritating necessity needs to wake up and realise that devolution bought us some hope in 2010 that has kept Kenya a going concern.

If devolution fails, the 2007/8 post-election violence will look like child’s play, handshakes and such other exploits notwithstanding.

The challenge that devolution is undergoing is fairly simple.

In the last two weeks, I have discovered, to my horror, that for many counties, half of the budget allocated in the 2017/18 has not been released by the National Treasury.

For many of them, no money for development has been disbursed this financial year. The result is that most counties are weighed down by crippling debt, have bad fiscal reputations and are barely functioning.

The earlier excitement that had moved many entrepreneurs from the cities to set up shop upcountry is waning as many worry that devolution might collapse, like it did in the 60s, together with their investments.

Many professionals who had moved their families to work for counties are rethinking staying idle in the counties. Many of these engines of up-country growth are quietly looking for placements back in the cities.

That is a sad story that requires the collective anger of Kenyans so that we stop this unfortunate slide. For those that may not be aware, the reason why Kenya’s first experience with devolution in the 60s died is that the central government starved the devolved units of funds.

Eventually they folded up, replaced by the inefficient county councils which the central government gleefully controlled.

That is why Kenya’s 2010 Constitution makes allocations and disbursements of money to counties a constitutional edict.

In Article 203, the Constitution requires that the county governments get allocated not less than 15 per cent of nationally collected revenue, while Article 219 requires that allocations to counties must be released without delay and without deductions.

This latter clause is amplified by the Public Finance Management Act which requires in Section 17 that disbursements to counties shall be released monthly and that the National Treasury shall publish disbursement schedules.

It would appear that while the national government has been technically faithful to the clause on minimum allocations, it has totally routinely flouted the provisions on timely disbursements. 

Many reasons are given for delay in disbursements, including lack of cash from the various revenue collectors, primarily the Kenya Revenue Authority.

What this argument fails to appreciate is that the reason why the responsibility of releasing money to counties was given to the national government is because it retains the primary taxation powers and is the only level which can borrow to close revenue gaps.

In any event, if one considers that the revenue allocated to the counties in any one year is just slightly above 10 per cent of the year’s Budget, it surely cannot be a strain on the Treasury to release these meagre monies to the counties.

The other argument that has been peddled is that money is being looted at the counties hence the need to check cash releases to governors.

Yes, money is lost in the counties and this is unforgivable. But if one was to interrogate the relative loss at the counties against that at national level, the former would be peanuts.

The solution then is to enhance checks and avoid strangling counties in their infancy. If the national government succeeds in this anti-devolution agenda, the price we will all pay is unmentionable.   

- The writer is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya