Build from this summit to enrich devolution

This past week, President Uhuru Kenyatta held frank discussions with county governors as they took stock of how well service is delivered to the public under the devolved governance structure. The two-day summit at the Sagana State Lodge agreed on a raft of proposals, including the formation of a ten-member team to identify and address hiccups facing the transfer or delegation of power from the central government to the counties. It was agreed that austerity measures must be introduced to reduce funds spent on recurrent expenditure. Refreshingly, the governors committed themselves to reducing by half the travel and other allowances that leaders receive with the view to shoring up resources for development projects.

There were other issues on the agenda at Sagana, and one of the most contentious was the sharing of funds. Disbursement of funds to the counties has been a long standing bone of contention where governors have accused the national government of deliberately engineering arbitrary delays to hoard authority. The latest altercation has centered around who between the county and national government should develop, repair or upgrade some of the roads passing through counties. Whereas county governments have asked that more funds should be disbursed to them to carry out this function on Class D, Class E and unclassified roads, the central government has been reluctant to cede this authority, arguing that capacity was lacking in some counties to carry out many of these tasks. Some of the reasons advanced may be legitimate. However, it is not inconceivable that the desire for control revolves around the billions of shillings devoted to the road sector, and the opportunity for seeking economic rent, particularly in the tendering process.