Devolution is a success story, more yet can still be achieved

The fifth annual Governors Conference kicks off today in Kakamega. Ideally, the conferences give governors an opportunity to review their gains in the previous year and most importantly, where they have fallen short; how to stay ahead and remedies for the shortcomings.

The rationale behind devolution was taking services closer to the people and allowing them to determine their own fate through constant engagement with their leaders. This type of participatory democracy allows the people to feel that they are directing their own destinies.

Devolution was touted as a cure to the skewed allocation of resources. And by many accounts, it has achieved quite a lot; deviating from a governance system far away in Nairobi in which policy-makers formulated policies for places they knew nothing about with the resultant consequence that certain areas became more developed than others.

In the formative years of devolution, the inevitable friction between the National Government, senators and governors nearly got us off to a bad start. Over the years though, most of the differences have been ironed out, paving way for speedy implementation of projects.

Gains are discernible across the country. A testament that devolution is working well for us. Through it, we have showcased our diversity, strengthened our sovereignty and fostered stronger national values and ties.

Some of the achievements include the building, specifically, of more hospitals to ensure people did not have to move long distances to get medical attention. All counties have so far purchased ambulances to boost their efforts in offering better healthcare in cases of medical emergency.

Previously impassable roads have been upgraded, schools have acquired additional classrooms. Devolution has allowed the setting up of feeding programmes in some schools for children and the setting up of bursary schemes has proffered a critical lifeline to children from poor backgrounds.

It was the beauty of devolution that saw Mandera County carry out its first ever Caesarean Section. Samburu County and Lamu County got their first tarmac roads. Thanks to devolution.

Benefits that have accrued from devolution over the past four years are tangible. Having also dealt with the mistrust that initially existed between governors and Members of County Assemblies, many of whom took devolution to mean a quick ticket to riches, one feels the fresh breath of air.

Indeed, the system offers a people-centred approach to leadership by emphasizing on participation and consultation and transparency and equility. No longer will Treasury mandarins dish out money as it pleases them. In a nutshell, it offers to redraw the past, by correcting its mistakes.

But the sky remains the limit; a lot more still has to be achieved.

However, going by the Auditor General’s and Controller of Budget’s reports that most of the more than Sh1 trillion disbursed to counties has been wasted or pilfered, it would seem like corruption too, has been devolved. This risks reversing the gains made so far.

There have been some glaring hiccups too. Some of the devolved functions like health have posed a great challenge to the devolved units. Wildcat strikes and an exodus of doctors and nurses to the private sector have become the norm. This has been blamed on delayed salaries, poor remuneration and lack of medical supplies.

Meanwhile, the Controller of Budgets decries the sharp drop in revenue collection within counties in the financial year 2017/2018. From a collection of Sh7 billion for the same period in the 2016/17 financial year, only Sh4.8 billion was collected this year. As such, besides the urgency in devising ways of streamlining revenue collection, counties need to come up with ways that maximize revenue generation, but that does not mean imposing more punitive taxation on citizens as happened in 2013.

Most importantly, governors must work diligently to seal the loopholes through which public funds are lost and cure corruption.

Extravagance and wastage within counties must be curbed and more emphasis placed on development and less on recurrent expenditure.