The national government would not matter much if devolution delivered

The National Assembly during a past session. MPs approved the county equitable share at Sh405 billion. File, Standard]

Almost 15 years since the 2010 Constitution was promulgated, 12 years after the first post-constitution election that birthed our current system of devolved government and eight mega conferences later, what is the true state of devolution today? Is it dead, or dying, as some suspect? The short and easy answer here is our devolved system of government is still a work in progress.

Lest we forget, devolution was touted as the crown jewel in our progressive and transformative constitution. It was the antidote to our long and dark history of concentrated political and economic power; the response to years of marginalisation and exclusion for large swathes of the country; the promise of equity in access to resources, services and development; the final ascent to our desired mountaintop of inclusive and progressive political, social and economic order.