A meeting of minds with governors was an eye-opener: Give them a break

Rwandan President Paul Kagame fielding questions at The Governors' Summit 2014 at Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha on January 20, 2014. Other panelists are (from left) Philip Kinisu, Chairman PwC Africa Governance Board, Kenyatta Universty VC Olive Mugenda, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and NMG Chief Operating Officer Tom Mshindi. PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH

In Summary
A fair assessment can only happen in the context of turf wars between the institutions that have cropped up, all of them staking a claim to the public policy-making space.
We Kenyans don’t like sitting around the table to reflect on policy. When our policy-makers are brought together, it is always at the invitation of some donor organisation where they are asked to choose from a menu of policy options prepared by foreign lobbyists.
Is it good practice to allow MPs to, on the one hand, pass the budget and play an oversight role on expenditure, and on the other, implement programmes whose budget they have approved?



By Jaindi Kisero
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Over the years, I have hated covering workshops, seminars, or even summits especially events where politicians are the main speakers.

After all, your typical Kenyan politician is a man who does not admit error, is more interested in image than substance, and will rarely seek the right information, let alone act on it.

But early this week, I had two days of interaction with governors at a summit that ended in Naivasha Tuesday. Before that, I had regarded governors as individuals obsessed with pomp and circumstance.

We still remember those mundane disagreements about which flag a governor should fly or whether wives of governors should be addressed as “First Lady”.

Recent newspaper reports about the introduction by some county governments of cemetery and kuku taxes have projected them as people bent on engaging in predatory taxation.

Yet after those two days of engaging and exchanging views, and having listened to them honestly express what they want to do and the challenges they have faced since the advent of the county administration, my perception has changed.

A fair assessment can only happen in the context of turf wars between the institutions that have cropped up, all of them staking a claim to the public policy-making space.

You have a national civil service bureaucracy that takes every opportunity to claw back power, a National Treasury that insists on holding onto its imperial powers, and a host of other institutions trying to flex their muscle in the same space — the Controller of Budget, the Commission on Revenue Allocation, the Transition Authority and the Ministry of Devolution.

Yes, governors may not have achieved much. But in the long run, the county system of government is what will change the economic fortunes of Kenyans in a significant way.

What impressed me most at the summit was the quality of debate, the perceptive thinking exhibited by the governors, and their understanding of the pertinent development issues.

We made the right decision when we made legislation demanding that all governors must have university degrees. When the county system of government settles down, governors will play a major role as catalysts of development.

Today, major policy-making institutions are in a state of flux. Parliament is viewed as a house without windows and MPs, perhaps unfairly, as tightly in the grip of vested interests.

In this confusion, the office of the governor is gradually going to evolve into a key power-centre, enjoying broad legitimacy.

Are we spending too much money on workshops, seminars and summits? What was achieved at the Naivasha meeting?

For me, the important thing was that the summit’s sponsors managed to bring all governors together to reflect on devolution. It was important to bring these personalities together and to get them to look into the mirror and admit that major mistakes have been made.

We Kenyans don’t like sitting around the table to reflect on policy. When our policy-makers are brought together, it is always at the invitation of some donor organisation where they are asked to choose from a menu of policy options prepared by foreign lobbyists.

Let’s have more summits for governors. Indeed, the current crop, being pioneers, are like explorers sailing into the unknown but always optimistic that the final destination will bring happiness to the people.

There will be a great deal of hit-and-miss experimentation. But we must support the system.

But even as we debate how to entrench the county government system, questions remain. First, is it right to allow the Constituency Development Fund to sit side by side with devolved funds managed by governors?

Is it good practice to allow MPs to, on the one hand, pass the budget and play an oversight role on expenditure, and on the other, implement programmes whose budget they have approved?

When senators insist on creating county management boards, are they within the spirit of the Constitution?

Oversight is not the same thing as playing the prefect. The plan to introduce a county management board chaired by a senator must be dropped. Immediately.