Economic pitfalls in actualising devolution

The decentralised system of governance entrenched by the constitution in 2010 is one of the best ever post-independence decisions. The promise of devolution was to decentralise power, take public services closer to the people, allow the people a chance to take part in decisions on how they are governed and ultimately assure equity in economic development of all regions.

But six years on, have the real economics in our counties, sub-counties, wards and villages changed? Can we genuinely say that folks in our rural and urban areas in the regions have better sources of livelihoods? Is there any crystal clear and observable improvement in household incomes from the country’s demographic data? Ultimately, the true measure of the success of our devolution shall only be a real change in livelihoods and household welfare among folks.