Read Kenyan memoirs to understand devolution story

Senators address a news conference on June 11, 2013. Photo/ALPHONCE SHIUNDU  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By TOM ODHIAMBO 

 

In Summary

• If you read the Truth Justice and Reconcilliation Report (TJRC) or several annual reports by many human rights organisations, there is nothing to speak of if you come from what Kenyan media glibly calls “marginalised communities”.

The story in town is that someone wants to kill devolution. But the storytellers do not say exactly who wants to kill the dream of “spreading the government”.

Who is it that wishes to recentralise power, authority and resources in Nairobi? Who doesn’t have a homeland – I mean a county – to celebrate, and still wishes that Kenyans still need to worship Nairobians?

The story of devolution is really the story of the Mau Mau war of liberty. It is the story of all struggles, armed and unarmed, that were waged against colonial occupation.

Kenyans weren’t just fighting for land. They sought to govern themselves. They wished to be agents in their governance, where local leaders could be held accountable. The devolution that the Constitution of 2010 envisaged wasn’t something new. It is the dream of every woman and man to be in charge of their life. It is a fundamental human right.

Yet, reading the newspapers, listening to the radio, watching TV, following the chatterboxes on social media or eavesdropping into conversations in restaurants and markets, one would think there is really a conspiracy by someone to sabotage devolution.

No, the tendency to want to concentrate powers in one person, place or institution comes with the greed and selfishness that defines humanity these days. This is why I think that we need to try and understand more about this devolution animal. What is it? How do we manage it? What benefits could it bring the individual counties and the nation as a whole? But to answer these questions, one needs to ask another, more fundamental one: how did we end up devolved?

Well, we divided up this country into 47 counties because Kenyans were tired of the lies that bound us together: the deceit of nation building. If you haven’t read Henry Barlow’s poem Building the Nation, then read it.

You will see why Kenyans enthusiastically rooted for devolution: “building the nation” meant working for the bureaucrats and politicians at the centre while the “builders” hustled on the margins. If you aren’t the poetic type, then read Habel Nyamu’s memoirs, Recollections: An Eye-witness account of Kenya’s journey from colony to multiparty democracy (2010). This autobiography is the story of a man who was dedicated to the dream of Kenya; a dream that imagined Kenya as a united, egalitarian, progressive and just society, for all.

There is no doubt that when Nyamu died, like many of his generation, he left behind a dreamless nation. The highlight of Nyamu’s story is that, without discipline and dedication to work, it would not be possible to build a nation out of the geography, the environment, the people and the cultures.

He says: “During episodes of what I consider to be my wildest thoughts, I often enjoy ruminating about Kenya as a great, respectable, peaceful, sporting, wealthy and forested land and innovative democracy. But these imaginings are rendered futile by the realisation that too many Kenyans have been taught to look down on matters that are non-political.

For many Kenyans, politics is like food; yet for all respectability, peace, sporting prowess, wealth and welfare of the populace based on innovation can only stem from mature and respectable politics and statesmanship – the kind of politics and politicians who can ‘walk the talk.’ Does Kenya really have such statesmen or women?”

Business for them

There! Recollections is an insider’s story or stories. It is really about how this country’s progress has been sabotaged by civil servants who are only interested in public office because it means business for themselves, their kin and friends. It is a tale of a Kenyan who is horrified at the perversity of indiscipline by the young and old in this country.

Yes, it is only sheer lack of discipline that can account for the mayhem that the MPs wish to visit on this country. Devolution isn’t just about politics or money. Devolution is about a shared welfare of all Kenyans.

Devolution offers the first chance to many Kenyans, in many parts of this country, to begin to feel themselves as Kenyans. What opportunities have the three republics offered the Turkana, Pokot, Somali or Kuria to develop?

If you read the Truth Justice and Reconcilliation Report (TJRC) or several annual reports by many human rights organisations, there is nothing to speak of if you come from what Kenyan media glibly calls “marginalised communities”.

Devolution is a dream-come-true for some of these peoples; they may just be able to dig wells, build schools and dispensaries, have locals employed in local government service, pave roads etc for themselves by themselves after 50 years of “flag Independence”. Years wasted by the disorderliness in government that Habel Nyamu decries.

So, before you join the devolution debate, on either side, please read the history of the Kenyan civil service and Kenyan politics since 1963 well so that you may speak with caution. It is naive for anyone to imagine that some schemers will scatter and scupper devolution, and that isn’t to say that there are no such hooded men and women with a dark trick up their sleeves to re-centre Kenya in Nairobi.t