The constitutional process we attended to as experts; there was a summarized draft which really was trying to amalgamate what had been churned out of the precious processes.
It had a three-tier formulation with regional governments and counties as per how they were demarcated in the Bomas Draft.
We got views and they were mainly on two fronts; the first one was that people felt that three-tier governance was going to be a very expensive venture – in terms of the structures and human resources.
Secondly, there were issues to do with the counties being merged and placed under one regional government. Many people were not happy with that.
But the main issue was the cost. At that time, people said that three-tier would be expensive and that is why they revised it to what we have in the 2010 constitution.
On whether the country is now ripe for regional governments or not, I think the more important thing we need to consider is that devolution is there as an instrument of governance.
Kenyans want to keep devolution, sustain and probably strengthen it.
So, it is not an issue about the number of tiers but how the functions, resource allocation and relations between the different levels of governments are managed.
Things may look expensive but when we have an efficient governance structure, then, in the long run, it proves to be cheaper because it produces more to Wananchi in terms of services, efficiency, accountability and deepening democracy.
If devolution, as we have today, is working and can be improved, then there is no problem.
The three-tier system that is being proposed has inspirations from the previous provincial administrations that we had, which also triggered a way of thinking, a way of living and even in our talks, we still refer to them as former Coast Province, former Nyanza province etc.
It is yet to go away from our minds and thinking.
I think we still have it one way or the other through the economic blocs that have been in the offing, for instance, Jumuiya ya Pwani, the Lake Region Economic Zone etc.
If the benefits that are being espoused can best be harnessed if the inter-linkage, functions and responsibilities of different levels or tiers count in a proper way.
The Constitutional lawyer spoke to the Star on phone.
