Devolution is on the brink of ‘national breakdown’ on BBI schema

By Steve Umidha

Majority of Kenyans feel frustrated since the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report was made public, in what now looks to be the shallow and politicians-obsessed coverage of the report by the media.

Here is a crisis like no other in recent Kenya’s history that is threatening to shake the bedrock of our Counties and national government alike, but the reporting and commentary on it is at the moment over-focused on party politics and egoism, and not on the reasons it is meant to resolve.

Why are the divisions so deep and the debate, often the polite word for a shouting match, so angry and uncompromising? Wonders John Ongira, a real estate developer – who like most ordinary citizens is a dispirited compatriot.

Right in front of our eyes, he says, “Nobody seems to see it. A few selfish Kenyans do not genuinely care about this country and their obliviousness on the BBI report looks certain to negatively impact on our future lives.”

BBI Agenda or rather report is now being compared to an earthquake in which pent up forces are suddenly being released, tearing open new fault lines and energizing old ones such as inequality, de-industrialisation, imperial retreat and austerity. All these have always had the capacity to provoke disasters, but they had not previously done so on anything like the scale that many can now forecast.

Mr. Ongira is not alone, another distraught fellow citizen, Conrad Onyango, a communication strategist and a veteran financial journalist, believes, the aforesaid have the capacity to split this country into two or more blocs –and whose impacts could draw back gains made thus far in the devolution agenda.

I would call it a “nervous breakdown” if that is the right description. Some counties and cities risk losing out should their leaders – I mean the MPs and Governors who are not aligned to the ‘majority call’ in embracing the report because they’ll be particularly representative of different political, social and economic trends that were part of the developing story, that is BBI agenda.

“Devolution for instance, has not attracted people back to their counties based on census results. Watu waliongezeka in the city. On the other hand, implementation of BBI is not people centered, but borders on self-interest of power hungry political leaders,” narrates Onyango, who feels this could have a damaging consequence on certain parts of the country, economically.

The 2010 Constitution of Kenya was hailed as a turning point in the country’s history as it reconfigured balance of power by devolving power and responsibilities from the national government to 47 elected county governments. It also recalibrated the powers between executive, legislative and judicial branches.

The first five years, between 2013 and 2018 under the devolved system of governance had witnessed progressive democratization and expansion of political space especially for the historically marginalized communities in Kenya. The 2nd election in 2017 brought 25 new Governors including three female Governors for the first time in country’s history.

Some counties have demonstrable unique strengths and resources that offer a potentially useful peer to peer learning and self-reliance, existing challenges and shortfalls notwithstanding.

The huge public expectations raised by devolved government have turned into disappointment. Over the last  two few years for instance, runaway corruption, inequality among other ills have derailed Counties’ momentum growth with the building bridges initiative further set to divide the country rather than bring it together.

Patronage politics that marked the former centralised system has been replicated in the new counties, making government even more inefficient and expensive. Though political leadership is now local, power is closely held, and leaders are likely to be more suspicious of both national and local rivals owing to the new divide, in BBI report.

Certain regions, communities and many youth (majority of whom that are yet to analyze the report), still feel marginalized. Greater inclusion and cooperation within and between county governments, as well as national-county dialogue, will be needed to maximise devolution’s potential and ensure that BBI report benefits the entire country without the risk of victimizing certain regions.

“As expected, the media has done a good job at summarizing the content of the report. However, the focus of the summaries and discussions have been on the aspects of the report that focus on politics and the political implications. While important discussions, there is a real possibility that they end up obfuscating in-depth and detailed discussions of the entire document,” opined Dr. Collins Odote, an orator at the University of Nairobi (UoN).

Renewed reconciliation work will be needed at all levels across the 47 counties ahead of referendum – should the country chose to go that route; specifically, national and county governments and donors need to reach a renewed understanding of the role and limits of civil society and community-based organizations, which are still best placed to identify and diffuse potential conflict flashpoints at local levels.

As a result Dr. Odote is advising Kenyans to read-to-understand the document, “We have a very short window to try and right past wrongs. The country does not have the luxury of time. It is for this reason that as citizens read and digest the report, we should avoid the normal tendency of over analysis and instead focus on understanding with a view to determining what to do in resolving the problems.”