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Two counties, Makueni and Nyandarua, are savouring rare accolades for the prudent use of public funds amid wanton wastage and corruption. The praise is from Auditor-General Edward Ouko, whose annual reports have lately been inundated with revelations of the sickening looting of public coffers and misuse of funds.
This is the first time since the advent of devolution in 2013 that counties have been given unqualified opinion or clean bill of health in an audit report. It is a welcome confirmation that the financial transactions of the two counties were in agreement with accounting requirements.
This is not entirely surprising for Makueni, which has done quite well in implementing development projects. Last year, it hosted the governors of the other 46 counties for a benchmarking conference on the success of its public participation approach.
Indeed, graft has been so rampant in the counties that it is often derisively said to have also been devolved. Ironically, the county system is considered the most significant transfer of resources from the centre to the grassroots.
It is unforgiveable, therefore, to allow the entrenchment of vices that have dogged the centralised system since independence. Today, some counties tout infrastructure as proof that devolution is the answer to the lack of development in the more than 50 years of independence. Counties in the north are boasting their first tarmac roads ever, and some are relishing the ability in these marginalised areas to equip local hospitals to carry out sophisticated surgeries. Solid progress in healthcare means patients no longer have to be trucked or flown hundreds of kilometres away to Nairobi to receive specialised treatment or surgery.
Makueni and Nyandarua have confirmed that the mounting impropriety is no cause for despair.
The devolution of corruption, ridiculous inflation of costs, such as the cow valued at millions of shillings, expensive gates and wheelbarrows must be stopped.
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