The proposal by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi on behalf of the Coast region to add regional governments to a proposed expanded government in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) is not only outrageous but also insensitive to an already burdened taxpayer.
This move, pushed by governors serving their second and last term, would be selfish.
They are seeking to create a vehicle that will help them continue enjoying political power through creation of regional governments to oversee counties.
If this is not a duplication of what the national government is doing, what should we call it?
Governor Kingi and his lot are oblivious to the fact that the current county governments cannot even sustain themselves.
They have been struggling to pay salaries and perform other functions, and one wonders whether creating regional governments was clearly thought through, if not driven by selfish ambitions of politicians.
The recurrent expenditure in counties currently outweighs the development expenditure on a month-to-month basis.
This goes counter to the very essence of devolution, even though some of the governors have embraced its spirit and brought in the envisaged change.
Lest we forget, last year there were sharp divisions between the governors and Parliament on division of revenue.
The two Houses were themselves divided over the crucial Division of Revenue Bill, 2019.
While Senate was pushing that the 47 counties be allocated Sh335 billion in the financial year, the National Assembly wanted a Sh310 billion allocation.
The bigger question that emerged from the public was what the governors had to show for the “little” they had received.
Most of the counties are bedevilled by corruption and misappropriation of funds.
We do not need to push for regional governments for power-hungry politicians whose record in the current county governments is wanting.
What we need is to expand the economy to a level that will accommodate all of us. Last year, more than 4,000 Kenyans lost their jobs as result of the poor economic performance.
This is why we do not need to expand the government to accommodate individuals who do not care about the rest of us.
The BBI should be less about positions and more about resource allocation in improving our economy.
Dead industries should be revived to increase productivity so that Kenyans can get jobs. It is therefore imperative that BBI address both governance and economic matters.
Our leaders should uphold fidelity to the Constitution and be more of servants than bosses.
I therefore echo the sentiments of President Uhuru Kenyatta during Sunday’s church service at AIC Milimani: leadership is about the people rather than political class.
Mr Owiti is a communications consultant and PR expert
