Not as long as we have a warped system of devolution where not one county government can pay for itself.
There is nothing to celebrate in devolution where county administrations boast some semi-autonomous status, but must forever be dependent on money from the centre.
If the system we so proudly welcomed with the enactment of the 2010 Constitution is to remain, we must as a matter of urgency deconstruct the present model and come up with one where devolved governments justify their existence.
They will only do that when they can generate their own revenues and take full responsibility for paying their employees and funding the projects and services under their remits.
There is no sense in having puffed up “Excellencies” all over the place riding around in obscene motorcades and being served by a million flunkies, yet they cannot even fund their operations.
Devolution bestows levels of autonomy, so logic follows that county governments must be responsible for raising their budgets.
The business of depending on handouts from the national government must end. That must, of course, follow from a thoroughly revamped system where revenues will be generated from county taxes.
This will not be in addition to the present taxation system, but a revamp where Pay-As-You-Earn, VAT and other appropriate taxes will be levied and retained by the individual counties, instead of all being collected and transmitted to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
There are numerous models we could learn from in countries like the United States, India and Switzerland where state or county governments actually generate resources and survive independent of handouts.
That is the essence of devolution. It makes nonsense of all the principals of semi-autonomy when central authority holds the purse strings.
Once we agree on transition to counties assuming full responsibility for raising their own revenues, those endless campaign ploys around what percentage of national revenues they can expect will become redundant.
I am sure governors Gideon Mung’aro of Kilifi, Nairobi’s Johnson Sakaja, Ann Waiguru of Kirinyaga, James Orengo of Siaya, Abdulswamad Shariff of Mombasa, Ahmed Abdullahi of Wajir, Irungu Kangata of Muranga, Gladys Wanga of Homa Bay, Uasin Gishu’s Jonathan Bii and all their colleagues across the 47 counties have the brains to start thinking out of the box.
They should at least recognise that there is no pride in being beggars. There is no honour in forever camping cap-in-hand at the National Treasury issuing impotent threats over delayed or inadequate funding.
There is no independence in being unable to meet your basic needs.
This is a challenge the aforementioned governors and their colleagues must take up with zeal if they want to make serious contributions to the development of devolution.
If they do not do anything and remain content with the status quo, they must then regard themselves as complete failures and look for jobs more consistent with their limited capabilities.
While at it, we must also take a close look at scandals around school bursary. What should be a noble initiative aimed at helping underprivileged children access education has been reduced to a grotesque political tool.
The funds are under the control of elected leaders – Members of County Assemblies, MPs and Governors – who for obvious reasons will exploit them for individual political gain.
As a basic principle, politicians must never made responsible for a management of any funds over which they should otherwise be providing oversight.
Bursaries are a case in point, as are the National Government Constituency Development Funds and all the other various kitties being put under the control of politicians under the guise of taking development closer to the ground. It is criminal when public resources are in effect diverted into political slush funds.
The Kenya Police Service last week issued a very welcome reminder that the use of strobe lights and sirens is restricted to emergency service vehicles, and only escort cars for the President, Deputy President, Chief Justice and Speakers of Parliament. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja instructed regional and formation commanders to crack down on the epidemic of vagabonds in power using sirens, strobe lights and chase cars to bully motorists off the roads in mad rushes to nowhere.
Very good. But similar notices have been issued numerous times in the past and never acted on.
