Right from the start, there was something fishy about devolution—and I’m not talking about Prezzo Bill Ruto’s new-found love for frying fish, with his shirt sleeves folded. We should have seen him at sea fishing bare-chested, as proper fishermen do, before he got to the frying pan.
What I have in mind, as devolution marks 12 years this week, is what a brilliant political project this was. I admit it made a lot of sense to copy something from afar, like America. After all, the more foreign, the better.
Although Kenya is smaller than the state of Texas, our brilliant “thinkers” had no qualms about fragmenting the nation into as many portions as America’s, or even replicating the models of representation, with a colonial term, governor, at the top tier.
Be that as it may, these governors have proven to be pretty effective in restoring a colonial order in their enclaves, starting with the monuments that they inhabit, like proper governors of yore, while Prezzo Ruto and his predecessors, combined, as he likes to think of himself, continues to build and rebuild State lodges that he uses only very occasionally, but which require permanent staff and supplies.
Enyewe, this nation of ours is so rich, if you were to believe ousted DP Rigathi Gachagua aka Riggy G, that we have not gone bust, even after all these years of plunder by politicians. If you think State lodges, configured as the rural abodes of our former colonial governors make no sense whatsoever, please remember keeping the procurements tabs open is the only point that matters.
Back to devolution. After 12 years, I concede the project has succeeded beyond measure. First off, the 47 governors have proven to be more effective in “eating” public funds than the central government ever could.
Those in the know say the loopholes in our public procurement laws allow crafty governors to pilfer a billion shillings a year, without ever getting caught. That makes it Five B, for one term. Wantam. Unsurprisingly, those who have run afoul of the law and, at worst, spend a few weeks in the cooler, can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
And when that happens, journos are miffed, writing, Governor So & So will spend the weekend in jail… Where else should certified thieves be?
And when they emerge from the cooler, those politicos, even with their accounts frozen, still manage to hire crowds that patrol the streets to protest their innocence, and retain lawyers who speaks as though they are about to relieve on themselves.
But the real success of devolution has been to stimulate economic activities in areas that the colonial infrastructure like the rail never touched because village-facing technocrats have returned to develop their hamlets, as counties have turned into employment bureaus.
And these bureaus work better than the schemes run by Alfie Mutua’s Ministry of Labour, which have been punctuated by deportations and tales of woe, because work is plentiful in the counties. And folks are very proud to “give back” to the regions from whence they came.
There was a similar move when urban professionals moved to rural-based colleges, which were granted charters like njugu karanga, serving as constituent colleges of larger institutions, before this model proved unviable. Now those colleges are folding.
It’s a matter of time before counties prove unsustainable, not in their current model anyway, which gobbles some 60 per cent of operational funds to pay salaries, while the rest is stolen or devoted to building governors’ mansions.
But it’s not all gloom. I have made a home in a county near Nairobi, a municipality to boot, and all the only services they have offered over the last few years are not the roads, water and sewer lines, as required by law, but “service” charge and rates being imposed on landowners.
