Seven things to watch in ensuring devolution lives up to expectations

Governor Simba Arati greets KARI Primary School pupils in Kisii County last week. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

Kenyans are experiencing an interesting, yet familiar moment. For the third election in a row, we still don't know with finality who the next president is, at least until the Supreme Court's determination. We wanted to get back to work, but we couldn't keep our eyes off this global justice event in the past week.

There is a second part to this moment. For the other five positions that we voted for, about 1,500 successful candidates out of almost 16,000 applicants are ready for work. Among these winners are 47 governors - 32 of whom are new - in whose hands lie the hopes of our counties. This is, after all, devolution's third stanza.

After 45 of these people were sworn into office last week (Governors-elect for Mombasa and Kakamega were voted in this week), we're already seeing action. In Nairobi, there's a fresh 10-point plan, while it seems the end is nigh for NMS running four key county functions, and KRA as county revenue collector.