For five decades after Kenya's independence, northern Kenya's political elite blamed the region’s underdevelopment on the central government’s failure to allocate adequate resources. Yet eight years after devolution, the level of development does not match the resources that have been allocated to the region.
In 2010 Kenya adopted a constitution that promised to address the daunting problem of ethno-regional economic discrimination. The Commission for Revenue Allocation was created to safeguard this intention and put an end to the exclusion of many ethnic communities in Kenya, a legacy of colonial rule and a decades-long centralised, ethicised, and personalised presidential system.
Since assuming office in 2013, Uhuru Kenyatta has done everything that he could possibly do to undermine the 2010 Constitution, and the politics of “one man, one shilling” now being touted as a formula for revenue sharing is a complete reversal of the principle of equitable development for an equitable society enshrined therein.
The Elephant in conversation with Kingwa Kamencu and Governor Kivutha Kibwana.
Patrick Gathara, from theElephant.info, speaks to Kawive Wambua, author, activist, governance specialist and former Makueni County Executive for Devolution and Public Service.
Views on devolution tend to be of two types. For some, devolution is the best thing since hotel buffets invented sliced ugali that you can eat with cutlery. It has led to new roads, new dispensaries and greater self-determination. For others, we are well on our way to Sodom and Gomorrah, with corrupt county officials […]
We all know that something big happened in Kenya in 2013: instead of all government power being concentrated in Nairobi, 47 new governments came into existence. They all have certain powers guaranteed by the Constitution, and certain resources from the national government, as well as money they raise themselves. But what does this mean for […]
Nairobi, Kenya – AN END TO THE POLITICS OF DIVISION On August 27, 2010, Kenya promulgated a progressive Constitution whose vision is social democracy. It’s a vision of the promotion and protection of the whole gamut of human rights; the equitable distribution of political power and the resources of society; and the creation of a nation out of […]