Kenyans Look to Newly Decentralized Government to Improve Social Services

NAIROBI, KENYA – Twenty-five years ago, John Odhiambo packed his dreams and moved to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, from the western city of Kisumu.

“After completing my secondary education in Kisumu, I traveled to Nairobi to seek greener pastures,” he says. “I arrived in Nairobi with a dream of improving the quality of my life.”

Now 41, he works as a mechanic at a local garage. But he says he hopes that a new shift toward local governance in Kenya with the creation of county governments will enable him to start his own business.

Odhiambo arrived in Nairobi in 1988 as an orphan who could not afford college, he says. His elder brother, a mechanical engineer at Toyota Kenya Limited, taught him skills to become a mechanic.

After two years, Odhiambo used his savings to launch his own business specializing in automobile bodywork and painting. But business was slow, so he had to close his shop after another two years.

He now specializes in the same work at a garage in Nairobi. But his responsibilities have increased now that he is a husband and father, so he says he dreams of opening his own business again.

Odhiambo is hopeful that Kenya’s new devolution of government into a two-tiered system will provide the necessary social protection programs to support him in a new business venture, he says.

Kenya’s 2010 Constitution mandated this decentralization, which divides funding between national and new county authorities. It is taking shape following the country’s March 2013 general elections.

Odhiambo says he is optimistic after hearing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s promises in his April inauguration speech to uplift small-scale traders and to enhance business while supporting the new county governments.

Odhiambo predicts that the new Nairobi county government will patronize the businesses of its constituents, he says. Patronage from the county government will help people like him grow their income and launch new businesses without having to take out a loan.

“If my county gives us business, I will be able to save and eventually start my own business,” he says.

He also hopes that each county government will prioritize health care, clean water and sanitation to make life better for Kenyans like him, he says. Maybe the next generation will enjoy a better standard of living, thanks to the newly devolved government, he says.

With the creation of 47 new county governments, Kenyans say they expect an improvement in the delivery of social services. The county governments are currently forming with the support of national funds. The 2010 constitution that introduced these local governments also allows the public sector to play a more active role in determining how the government allocates the national budget. Financial and government experts say that the new system is promising but challenging and encourage local leaders to develop sustainable funding to support social programs in the long term.

Among the objectives of the devolution of government are “to promote social and economic development and the provision of proximate, easily accessible services throughout Kenya,” according to Kenya’s 2010 Constitution.

To do this, the constitution established 47 county governments in Kenya. But it suspended activity related to devolution until the completion of the country’s parliamentary elections in March 2013.

The budget for the 2013 to 2014 fiscal year, introduced in the National Assembly last month, is the first budget under the fully devolved government that allocates money to the new counties, says Calvin Shavanga, the chief finance officer at the Ministry of State for Public Service, in a phone interview.

The government has allocated approximately 1.98 billion Kenyan shillings ($23.5 million) to the county governments for the coming fiscal year, according to the 2013 Division of Revenue Bill.

Devolved government holds great promise, Shavanga says. It provides a framework for the country to tackle developmental challenges that have plagued the nation since independence, such as poverty and inadequate health care.

“Government budgets are essential for ensuring the delivery of critical services like basic education, maternal health, water, security and roads,” he says.

This year, Kenya’s budget will allocate funds to county governments to help them oversee various social programs, he says. This funding could boost employment.

“In the long run, devolution has enormous potential to change livelihoods by bringing social services closer to the people,” he says.

With funding allocated to their local governments, Kenyans say they expect improved delivery of social services.

Esther Mtuwaa, 24, trained as an early childhood education teacher in Nairobi but is currently unemployed. She says she hopes the new county government will improve education and create job opportunities for teachers.

Under devolution, each of the 47 counties assumes responsibility for early childhood education, which may solve major challenges to providing quality education to young children, she says.

“Children in marginalized areas travel long distances to school,” she says, “often on empty stomachs, and are expected to learn in an environment characterized by dilapidated buildings and insufficient desks, chairs and learning materials.”

But the county governments should solve these problems, she says.

“For effective learning and teaching and to maintain quality of education,” she says, “we expect our county government to provide textbooks for lower primary, which faces severe book shortages, as concentration has been on purchasing books for the upper classes, which are preparing for examinations.”

Mtuwaa says she is also optimistic that the devolved system of government will create job opportunities for teachers.

“We hope to see more employment opportunities at the county level,” she says.

If she cannot find a job in her field, she says she will opt for other opportunities that the new county government may provide.

“I know counties will have their own civil servants,” she says, “and I am hoping to secure a job.”

The Commission on Revenue Allocation currently determines how the national and county governments distribute revenue, says John Mutua, the program officer in charge of the Budget Information Programme at the Institute of Economic Affairs, in a phone interview. Based in Nairobi, the institute is a nonpartisan organization that promotes public policy discourse in Kenya.

The commission ensures that county governments receive a base level of 15 percent of national revenue, Mutua says. This amount enables nascent county governments to provide social services to their residents while they cultivate diverse revenue sources to continue them.

Marginalized or underdeveloped counties will also receive support from an equalization fund to develop infrastructure and to deliver social services, Mutua says. Kenya’s 2010 Constitution established this fund using a percentage of the nation’s revenue.

County governments are now forming by setting up cabinets, he says. They will begin implementing their own budgets in July.

Once a county government is functional, the next step is to generate its own revenue, says Daniel Muia, chairman of the department of sociology at Kenyatta University, in a phone interview.

This will put the governments in a position to create jobs for residents and to provide water, health care and early childhood education, he says.

To aid the county governments in providing these social services, the constitution also made the budget approval process more participatory.

Previously, the national government never considered the input of average Kenyans, who should play a fundamental role in identifying key development issues, Mutua says.

“One of the principles of Chapter 12 is public participation,” he says of the 2010 constitution.

The budget committee under the new constitution requires public participation of citizens and members of Parliament in budget discussions.

“These open it up to a wider set of actors, particularly giving citizens and MPs a greater role,” he says, “and fundamentally reduce the traditional, dictatorial and nearly limitless powers of the executive.”

The budget oversight committee in the National Assembly will ask for Kenyans’ input on annual estimates, the division of revenue and allocation of revenue to counties, Muia says. Then, the committee will ensure that citizens receive the services they request.

Although the devolved system of government carries promise, implementing the new system will be challenging, Shavanga says. Even under Kenya’s new budget, which will take effect on July 1, 2013, the transfer of social services will be a slow process.

Further, devolution does not automatically boost economic growth and the distribution of social services, he says. County governments will require support from the national government, especially in the coming fiscal year, but must develop their own financial muscle.

“Counties need to come up with new revenue sources,” he says. “They cannot rely on the 15-percent base level allocated to them to cater for staffing, proper roads, social amenities, including health and education facilities, adequate supply of electricity and other public works all at once.”

There are multiple ways that county governments can pursue new revenue, Mutua says, such as borrowing or seeking grants from the national government.

“They are also allowed to come up with a new tax,” Mutua says. “But there are limits to the tax to ensure taxes are in line with national priorities and do not impede growth of businesses or disenfranchise investors.”

Shavanga implores new leaders to take advantage of the opportunity to invigorate social programs by developing local governments responsibly and creatively.

“Poor management of the process, unprecedented challenges and lack of innovation can easily destroy the expected gains,” he says.   

Interviews were translated from Sheng, Swahili and Dholuo.