County Commissioners during an induction course at the School of
Government June 25, 2012. There are palpable cries from wananchi level
complaining of the high levels of taxation proposed by county
governments. Some of the complaints are based on the arguments that the
stakeholders were never consulted, the suddenness of the proposals, and
the absence of a grace period to allow the citizens to prepare
psychologically for this demand. PHOTO/FILE
There are palpable cries from wananchi level complaining of the high levels of taxation proposed by county governments.
Some
of the complaints are based on the arguments that the stakeholders were
never consulted, the suddenness of the proposals, and the absence of a
grace period to allow the citizens to prepare psychologically for this
demand.
Counties are expected to contribute, through
appropriate taxation, to the delivery of services even as they
supplement resources from the National Government pegged at a minimum of
15 per cent of the national revenue.
The county
governments have been agitating for a bigger slice of this allocation
and the National Government has, in fact, allocated nearly 40 per cent
of the resources to the counties.
But this will never
be sufficient, given the many and urgent development challenges facing
the counties. There is, in fact, a very serious crisis of expectations.
In
the ordinary citizen’s mind, devolution meant the availability of
services never undertaken because “we were forgotten by Nairobi!” Now
that decisions are being made at the local level, the people expect
speedy delivery of services.
Delays are likely to cause
frustration and impatience. The difference this time is that these will
be directed at the county governments and not necessarily Nairobi.
It
may no longer be the norm to pass the buck to Nairobi because the
citizen now fully understands what devolution means under the 2010
Constitution.
He or she actually perceives that the
resources have been released to the county level: what with the seminars
and workshops in hotels, the overseas trips, the new high-end vehicles
for the county executive staff, the executive offices, etc.
SIMPLE DELIVERABLES
The citizens may be impatiently anxious to see how the resources are being utilised to make a difference in their lives.
They
perceive a motorable road to a hitherto inaccessible place, an
operational dispensary, a cattle dip that now has ‘dawa ya mnanda’, a
water tap that is now producing actual water and not hissing air – as
development.
These simple deliverables are some of the
tangibles around which the lives of the rural people rotate and their
availability eases the drudgery. Once these basic level needs are
fulfilled, higher level aspirations can be accommodated and welcomed.
My
arguments are therefore premised on the belief that when the citizens
can see what we have accomplished with the resources that we have got
from the National Government and are convinced that there are benefits
for them, they are likely to be interested in participating in further
developmental activities.
People are likely to be more
willing to be enthusiastic to pay taxes if they perceive positive
outcomes from their effort. To have prepared them in advance will be of
great help.
The lessons of devolution and the reaction
of the citizens to the finance Bills prepared by the counties are that
because the government is now at the grassroots level, reactions will be
expressed sooner than later.
Because we are no longer
going to pass the buck to Nairobi, we must carry along the people with
us in all the policies meant to be to their benefit.
We
must appreciate that the rope around which the mistakes will be marked
by knots are fairly short and therefore the allowance for such is also
short. The example of taxation is only one. Many others abound. We must
carry the people along with us.
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