Recent opinion polls have revealed that Kenyans overwhelmingly support devolution. Despite the negative reports from counties on governance, Kenyans see devolution as the antidote to centralised planning and political patronage that shaped skewed resource allocation in the country. Development projects started by county governments in hitherto sleepy towns dot the countryside. Although service delivery in health sector continues to be a challenge in several counties, Kenyans would rather we keep the devolution course for the foreseeable future.
To advance this trajectory, Senate recently set about to re-examine the Constitution to explore how devolution can be strengthened through alignment and empowering of institutional frameworks that serve devolved governments. A nine-member committee led by Senator Kipchumba Murkomen tasked with that mandate this week tabled a report in the House that has major proposals to amend the Constitution on areas touching on devolution. The changes are in line with similar proposals sought by the Council of Governors, and may be welcomed by most players in devolved governments.
A key plank of these recommendations is to strengthen the role of the Senate whose primary mandate is to protect interests of counties and their governments. All Bills will be debated and approved by the Senate, to check its impact on counties and act as quality control on the legislative process.
The committee has also pronounced itself on the complimentary oversight roles of the Senate and the County Assemblies in the Constitution. This is necessary due to concerns by counties that Senate is usurping the mandate of the assemblies by seeking to summon the county governments to respond to audit queries. There is no doubt that in the long term when an assembly will have developed sufficient capacity to check its executive, Senate will have little or no role in their oversight as happens in federal or decentralised systems. This role will be fully exercised by the assemblies. However, it will be unreasonable to leave oversight to the assemblies today.
The Senate will also vet appointments to offices that will deal with institutions of oversight, and offices that do not deal with formation of government but have security of tenure. All other appointments will have to be vetted by the National Assembly. This will leave the National Assembly with the express mandate to oversee the national government, and retain the powers to approve or reject those appointed to run the government.
Perhaps more significantly, the committee has proposed that both Houses should be involved in the country’s budget making process, including the approval of the appropriation bill. It has become increasingly difficult for the senate to address resource allocation to counties and oversight institutions because of the exclusive mandate on budgetary matters currently enjoyed by the National Assembly.
The proposals also streamline provisions relating to the removal of state officers, and enhance the financing of independent offices and institutions such as the Auditor General, and the County Assemblies. It also proposes to re-define the determination of resources allocated to counties, including raising the minimum threshold. This is bound to rub some Kenyans the wrong way, especially given cases of misplaced priorities and wastage in counties. But we must look far beyond the current horizon in strengthening devolution.
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