Governance experts say transfer of devolved roles not a favour to governors

President William Ruto's order to have devolved roles still held by the national government gazetted is not a favour to governors but a matter that was overdue, governance experts have said.

On Monday, the transfer of county functions from the national government received a major boost with the gazettement of many devolved roles.

Consequently, the necessary funds should accompany the functions in the next financial year beginning next July.

Ruto made the directive during the 11th National and County Governments Coordinating Summit at State House, Nairobi.

The Eastleigh Voice spoke to constitutional expert Bobby Mkangi and political analyst Mark Bichachi on the protracted battle between the national government and devolved units to have all the devolved functions directed to counties with the necessary funding.

"The transfer is long overdue but should also be accompanied with real adequate financial and other resources. Through political party hierarchies, senior national party leaders still command overbearing political influence and patronage over formal administrative and political institutions, counties included," says Mkangi.

Mkangi regrets that some governors have chosen to operate under this arrangement, yet they know too well that they are answerable to the people and no other political forces.

He warns that the transfer of the functions should be cerebral, where devolution is optimally implemented the way Kenyans designed it.

The unbundling of the functions from the national government was done by the Inter-Governmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC), the agency mandated to establish frameworks for consultation and cooperation between the two levels of government.

"I now direct the committee to take the next step of systematically identifying and transferring the requisite budgetary and other resources tied to these functions in the next fiscal year," the President said.

Address challenges

He reiterated his commitment to address challenges affecting counties, citing constraints within the national fiscal framework. These, he said, limit the national government's ability to fully meet devolved units' expectations for transfer of shareable revenue.

"This challenge cannot and should not be mistaken for a lack of commitment to devolution. Rather, it is a temporary difficulty arising from inherited fiscal vulnerabilities and the incomplete implementation of devolution," Ruto said.

According to Bichachi, it was time-bound but many felt like the national government needed to keep those roles to avoid chaos. For example, many doctors strike in countries when counties couldn't hire them.

He says that it is always tenable to transfer these functions because, since 2013, there have been devolved units that have worked despite delays in payment.

"Devolved units can also collaborate in terms of working together to achieve common goals. The funds following functions isn't the main problem, the bigger one is corruption. How will more funds simply not make more corrupt billionaires?" asks Bichachi.

The President urged all ministries, departments and agencies at both levels of government to expedite dispute resolution by leveraging alternative resolution mechanisms.

He emphasised that this approach not only saves time and avoids costly delays, but also relieves citizens of the financial burden of legal fees while fostering mutual trust and collaboration.

"I am encouraged to note that many disputes are now being referred to the IGRTC for resolution, and I applaud their efforts in preventing disagreements from escalating into disputes," he said.

President Ruto pointed out that collaboration between the two levels of government has achieved commendable alignment on key national priorities.

Devolved functions

The devolved functions performed by county governments include agriculture, health, early childhood development education, vocational training and many others.

During the devolution conference in August, President William Ruto promised that the pending functions would be transferred in two months.

During the 6th Public Finance Management Conference by the Association for Women Accountants in Kenya (AWAK) in Kisumu, Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa said delays in the process to transfer functions have led to the loss of millions of shillings in funds which would have been directed to run the activities in counties.

"We have functions worth around Sh275 billion which have been costed by the Inter-Governmental Relations Technical Committee that was tasked with a responsibility of making sure the functions that are not yet devolved as per the fourth schedule are properly scheduled and transferred to counties," Barasa said.