Let me start with my main point:
Telling a Swiss citizen that his country's system of government is “opaque and inefficient” is somewhat like telling a Kenyan, that Kenyan athletes are not very good at long-distance running.
There is no doubt in my mind that to most Swiss citizens, our federal state functions well and smoothly; and is exceptionally transparent. Just as I believe there is no doubt in the mind of any Kenyan that the best marathon runners are Kenyans. Indeed, this elaborate federal system of government is the key to the stability, peace and prosperity we have enjoyed uninterrupted for several generations now.
But even more than that, we Swiss consider our elected representatives and technocratic elite as our servants, not our masters. And our unique political system of direct democracy gives Swiss voters regular opportunities to enforce their will on the Swiss government at every level, through referenda.
So why do I feel it necessary to emphasise all this?
Well, in late April, I participated in the Fifth National Devolution Conference in Kakamega. I listened with interest to Right Honorable Raila Odinga’s speech and his proposal of a three-level government. I was happy to note his reference to existing regional blocks in Kenya like the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC), an institution the Swiss Embassy has been supporting for quite some years.
The day after Odinga’s speech, The Star looked into the question of countries with three-tier political systems and, rightly so, referred to Switzerland.
But what the infographic in this newspaper claimed was that the Swiss Federal System is "opaque and inefficient”.
That is when I wondered to myself how a Kenyan resident in Switzerland would feel if a Swiss newspaper characterised Kenyans as really nice people, who however are not very good at running. This would surely be seen by any Kenyan as a misapprehension that required immediate correction by laying out the facts.
But I do confess to the reader, that it’s not easy to understand the Swiss political system – just as it is a challenge for a guest like me in this beautiful country to understand Kenyan politics.
All the same, it’s an ambassador’s task to explain his country’s realities and connect them with the realities of his host country. Let me do that now.
What you call counties in Kenya, are known in Switzerland as cantons. And some Swiss cantons are very centralised, with the Cantonal Capital deciding on almost everything. Other cantons are highly devolved, with the villages and cities largely running the show. It is in these highly devolved cantons where the three-level government is implemented in its most clear way.
In May 2015, the Swiss Embassy invited a group of governors from the FCDC of Northern Kenya to visit Switzerland. They went there to see with their own eyes how the different levels of government worked.
Inspired by what they saw, the governors sat together in a small hotel in the Swiss Alps and hammered out a strategy on how to tackle the challenges their counties faced. A common strategy for the FCDC counties was born – and with that a kind of preliminary three-level system of government was launched in Kenya, adopted to the unique needs of that region.
But the FCDC is more than a cooperation platform. It is also a political pressure group. Eight governors - together with their respective MPs and senators - lobbying the national government in Nairobi have more impact than only one or two governors.
In this context, it’s important to hear and listen to what the citizens want and need. In Switzerland, the citizens decide regularly in referenda on issues like nuclear energy, or the construction of the longest railway tunnel in the world (57km through the Swiss Alps).
One last point: The Star wrote that Switzerland had implemented reforms to improve cooperation between the different levels of governments.
Federalism in Switzerland – and devolution in Kenya – is a never-ending process, a process to find the right balance between centralised and devolved functions, a process of continuing discussion and negotiation. I wish Kenya to keep exploring the right balance of devolution. What Kenya has achieved so far is impressive and unique.
Ambassador of Switzerland to Kenya