Leaders sound alarm on devolution's future as budget strains mount

Council of Governors CEO Mary Mwiti unveiling thr Devolution Conference 2025 registration website on April 3, 2025 [David Gichuru, Standard]

As governors converge in Homa Bay for the Devolution Conference on Tuesday, August 12, questions over corruption, wasteful spending and delayed disbursements hang over the gains of the past 12 years.

Experts are warning that without reforms, the promise of equity and development is at risk.

Speaking during an interview on Spice FM in Nairobi on Monday, August 11, former Kiambu Governor James Nyoro argued that graft and misuse of resources remain a major obstacle to service delivery despite the constitutional goal of spreading resources across the country.

‘‘Corruption begins at the top of governance to the bottom of the pyramid. Once in a while, we see people taken to court because of corruption, but it is the responsibility of all of us to stop the vice,” Nyoro remarked.

The conference, which runs until Friday, August 15, will be attended by all 47 governors and is hosted by Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga.

 The theme is ‘For the People, For Prosperity: Devolution as a Catalyst for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice.’

According to the Auditor General’s 2022/2023 report, counties spent Sh1 billion on foreign trips, with Nairobi topping the list at Sh188 million.

 Nakuru, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kajiado and Kitui followed. Many of the trips, often called training or benchmarking tours, have yielded little benefit for residents.

Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi, who also joined the interview on Spice FM, explained that strained relations between governors and Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) often slow projects.

“County assemblies are independent in their operation but not financially. Sometimes, because of certain interests, it becomes a case of “we must do this in order to get that,” Mwangangi noted.

In the 2023/2024 financial year, counties received Sh415 billion from the national government, up from Sh354.6 billion the previous year. Nyoro questioned whether the funds were used as intended.

“It will be unfair to single out county assemblies as the most corrupt, but wastage of resources is real. Agencies tasked with accountability have not been doing their rightful role,” Nyoro observed.

Both leaders acknowledged that devolution has improved access to services and development, but they warned that its promise is at risk.

‘The fish starts rotting from the head. If we do not fix governance and integrity from the top, we will keep losing public resources. And when that happens, the people we promised to serve will be the ones who suffer most,’ Nyoro cautioned.

He added that delayed disbursement of funds from the national government is crippling operations.

“You plan as a county to receive money by the 15th of every month, but sometimes you go for three months without funds. When the national government is in a financial crisis, counties suffer first,” Nyoro explained.

He warned that without goodwill from the national government, devolution could stall.