Kenya: Corruption Fears Mar Devolution Implementation
By George Okore
NAIROBI--A new study by Jesuit Hakimani Centre (JHC) says many Kenyans want to take direct control of their resources to enhance social economic development.
The report, compiled from a month long survey in July and released last week, says many Kenyans believe that with devolution of resources from central government to the country's semi autonomous 47 countries, more economic development will definitely follow.
In order to validate the report, broad-based consultations with stake holders from vacant array of Kenyan society attended a two day seminar early this week in Nairobi , where they urged county heads ( Governors ) that Kenyans will judge their performance by economic achievements during their five years in office. The meeting called all the 47 governors to institute creative and pro- active schemes in managing expectations from Kenyans.
JHC Principal Researcher and Executive Director Dr Elias Mokua says many Kenyans believe that county governments must eliminate corruption for sustainable development. “Our study points that many Kenyans want accountability from governors and county governments to eliminate corruption. The situation calls for independent auditors to provide credible information on projects and appointments of county governments. Many Kenyans want easy access and dissemination of information to enable them hold their governors accountable,” says Dr Mokua.
Catholic Archbishop for Kisumu Diocese Zacheuss Okoth said domination of many county governments by one community was unhealthy and would not yield accountable and transparent governance. He called for genuine participation and engagement of Kenyans in affairs of county governments adding that there is need to further civic education on devolution as many Kenyans do not understand how the new system operates.
Chief Whip of Kenyan Senate Hon. Beatrice Elechi, while opening the meeting, supported the report findings, which says over two thirds of Kenyans want current budgetary allocation increased for county development, noting that the current 15 per cent allocation is insufficient, especially to marginalized countries. She says the situation is made more farcical by people’s failure to understand how to access crucial government information.
Member of National Assembly Rachael Shebesh supports the findings but wants more resources allocated towards water and sanitation, especially among the urban poor to ease the lot of women. She was supported by Hon Priscillah Nyokabi from Nyeri who said that if well managed with proper structures and strong controls, the current allocations are enough to spur meaningful economic development.
The meeting heard that the current allocation of Ksh 210 billion to the country government is inadequate as a large chunk of these funds will be used for recurrent expenditure at the expense of development. The meeting also urged country governments to prioritize job creation to absorb the ever growing youthful population.
The effects of corruption on devolved government , according to the stakeholders, is real because many county governments may not be well placed to fight corruption The stakeholders said that corruption will move to the counties and called for civic education to enable Kenyans seem not to understand how the devolved structure of the movement work.
They vouched for independent and periodic audit to provide credible information on projects and appointments of county governments. The stakeholders thanked Jesuit Hakimani Centre for their continued dedication to the study and action on issues of social justice and peace building through group training, thematic research, publications and media.
The center uses docudrama, participatory group learning projects, psychosocial support and problem-based learning exercises to educate and empower individuals and communities to tackle both structural and cultural violence and promote transformative peace and healing interventions. It also centre develops participatory media platforms for advocacy on both local and global issues with media research, development communication and media diplomacy to build supportive communication for civic education and debates on public issues.