When the devolution governance system came in 2013, it was highly marked by hope since Kenyans felt that this demarcated model of decentralisation of administration, political and financial power and charge from the central government would build best outcomes and performance in the 47 established governance units.
Nevertheless, a decade down the line, the voyage of devolution continues to move with not only a major promise, but also great perils. The latter being a substantial and straight consequence of bad governance, which if not fastidiously stamped out could disorganise the whole vessel of devolution.
Some of the indicators of bad governance in the county governments conspicuously encompass poor service delivery, corruption, unsuitable and imprudent utilisation of resources, a planning style that is not in sync with the real needs of the populaces it exists to serve, and incapacity to attract and retain the workers required to deliver on the transformation agenda of devolution.
Moreover, there is an authoritarian and subjective decision-making attitude in different counties as well as appointments based on personal relationships that go counter to the ethical standards that devolution was supposed to herald in guaranteeing transparency, inclusivity and an evidence-based and bottom up empowerment approach.
One of the foremost contextual factors that impede the realisation of capable and accountable county governance is the lack of the right kind of politics in our counties. This debauches distribution of power, political competition, policymaking, sector management and budgeting processes as a result of exclusive and extractive (small group of people doing their best to exploit the rest of the population) politics.
There is an urgent need to fix these challenges in our counties before they become insurmountable.
