The national government’s continued holding on to key devolved functions is derailing devolution six years after its inception, the governors have said.
The state is accused of failing to relinquish 40 functions to the 47 counties as demanded by the Constitution.
“The counties have for the past four years been hard-pressed to deliver on their functions due to the slow disbursement of funds and lack of a borrowing framework for short-term and long-term loans,” CoG chairman Josphat Nanok said at their Nairobi offices.
“There is the need for transfer of functions whose allocations and performance are still being carried at the national level.”
Only 14 functions have been transferred to the devolved units, they said. The governors also accused the national
government of wasting a lot of resources by replicating functions already carried out by the counties.
“It is in this regard that the council once again extends an olive branch to the national government to allow us to resolve this issue,” Nanok said after a CoG meeting.
The Constitution restructured the governance structure, redesigned how the people relate and established a devolved system. The counties warn that the national government still holds more power, particulalry with regard to infrastructure development, sports, agriculture, trade, county transport,
and health, which should be run by the counties.
“The county chiefs are not ready to confront the state because you will be blackmailed like Mombassa Governor Hassan Joho and others,” one governor said.
Former Transitional Authority chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi dismissed the claims and said county functions have been devolved.
“What we need is a national exercise to cost the national government and ministry,” he said.
But Nanok said national and county governments must obey the Constitution and stick to their core mandate. He warned against state interference in the county functions.
Activists have also warned against the state meddling in county functions.
“The national government, while free to infiltrate its policies at the county levels, must do so through the structures recognised by the Constitution and not run a parallel or duplicate system,” International Centre for Policy and Conflict executive director Ndung’u Wainaina said.
In the past six years, the national government has successfully, through the National Assembly, pushed legislative and administrative processes to subvert devolved functions.
This was evidenced by the Water Act 2016, the National Drought Management Act 2016, the Land Laws (Amendment) Act 2016, the Community Land Act 2016 and the Roads Reclassification Act that the courts revoked. Observers warn the situation is escalated through the budgetary process, through which the national government starves the counties.