Date Posted: 7/4/2013 12:59:28 AM
Posted By: Moff J Membership Level: Silver Total Points: 485
Flashback to 2010 and Kenyans are bracing themselves for a new Supreme Law of the country. We had been tired by the old constitution that entrenched imperial presidency, centralization of government functions, toothless judiciary, unequal development, a diluted bill of rights, among many other issues. The constitution had been amended so many times that it was now in patches and could tear down any minute.Thus when it came to voting for a new constitution, we turned out in record numbers to usher in a new era; an era of optimism and renewed hope for a better Kenya, better governance, end of impunity and a more equitable distribution of resources. One of the key pillars that the new constitution was built on was devolution. It was seen as an equalization mechanism whereby resources would be devolved to the common 'mwananchi' to improve their welfare. Through devolution, we would be able to participate in the governance activities and directly feel development in our respective counties. It was a gate through which the government was to provide better services to its citizens and provide value for the citizens' taxes.It is now 2013 and we have both the national government and the county governments in place. We also have a bicameral parliament consisting of the National Assembly to legislate on matters concerning the whole nation and the Senate to pass laws concerning the counties and protect county interests. All of these were meant to improve the livelihoods of Kenyans and boost the country's economic development.However, a lot of challenges that the drafters of the new constitution had not taken into account are now coming into play. I am going to specifically dwell on the challenges that have been brought about because of devolution.First is the increase in the already overburdened wage bill. Through devolution, forty seven governors, forty seven senators and forty seven county women representatives (though this was an affirmative action) have been elected into office. Do not forget the county representatives who have increased significantly. There are also other county officers such as county government secretaries among others. All these officers are to be paid from the national coffers. Thus, the wage bill will increase significantly because of this devolution. In as much as the constitution set up the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to look into and set state officers' salaries, we have seen sustained effort from these officers to have their salaries increased.Another ill that devolution could have brought about is corruption, nepotism and impunity in a larger scale. There have been reports of lavish spending by these county bosses at the expense of service delivery to the electorate. This is spreading the culture of impunity even further. In other counties, there have been accusations of nepotism. Thus these bad vices which have held our country back for such a long time are now being spread across the whole country through devolution.I also do not see the work of the senate; a creation of the constitution because of devolution. The senators are supposed to pass laws which affect counties. The question here therefore is- are there laws which affect the nation and do not affect the counties or vice versa? All I am saying is that one house of parliament is enough to pass laws to govern the whole country and with this regard the national assembly is all we need. Otherwise, we are just paying a few people(senators) a lot of money for a very lean job description!In conclusion, the timing of devolution was not right in Kenya. We rushed to embrace a concept without critically analyzing its practicality in Kenya. It may have worked very well in some countries but for our country- it was not the way to go at the time. It could be a recipe for country failure especially the moment these counties start borrowing money to fund their budgets without a corresponding increase in their output and development!
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