What do we expect of the devolved government? There are men and women, traipsing abroad in the land making promises of what they will do as governors or senators without having a clue as to what devolution is, what it means or what it will do. They make promises based on three generations of political received wisdom without considering, first, that devolution, unlike the Sixties' version, is an entirely new form of governance that Kenyans are experimenting with and, secondly, that unless it is well-implemented, it is set to be the most expensive mistake Kenyans have ever made (or will ever make). Public discourse over the past few months has revolved around the question of who or what is sabotaging devolution and of late, the culprit has been identified as the Attorney-General (and his State Law Office).
After Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's death, politics in Kenya underwent a sea-change. What had been a gradual personalisation of the State in the presidency, was made manifest in the twenty-four years of President Moi's and KANU's rule. Development, as an agenda, was the exclusive province of the Head of State and Government. His word was final as to where roads or schools or hospitals or anything would be built. The central government became the all-encompassing octopus that we all came to know and fear. It's mandarins were represented everywhere, directing the development of even the smallest projects conceived in the name of the people. IN time, the people stopped being the reason for the existence of the government, and instead became nuisances to be handled and managed with an iron fist, especially when they became restive and demanded a say in the way their lives were being shaped.
The Bomas of Kenya Constitutional Conference set the pace for the changes that would be finally entrenched in the Constitution by the Committee of Experts in 2009/2010. A process that had crept up on the central government by the inauguration of the Constituency Development Fund was finally realised when devolution was entrenched in the Constitution. The structure of devolution, which the Ministry of Local Government-appointed Task Force on Devolved Government attempted to deconstruct in the months following the promulgation of the Constitution is one of the most ambitious political projects Kenya has ever attempted, more significant than the defeat of KANU in 2002 or the crisis of 2007/2008. For the first time in three generations, the destiny of the peoples of Kenya is in the hands of citizens at the grassroots level, where significantly larger sums of money than had been allocated under the CDF will be managed without the overbearing hand of the central government by the people at grassroots level. Devolution is the final step in empowering citizens who have been ignored by their government and to give them a real say in how and where public monies will be expended.
The accusations being levelled against the Attorney-General must be seen in the contest of a debate over how devolution will be implemented. The A-G, being the principal legal advisor to the government, speaks for the government and acts for the government when he makes decisions regarding the manner in which devolution will be implemented, including the enactment of laws that will bring this dream to fruition. However, he does not act alone; he does so with the full knowledge of the government, offering his advice where it is needed and bringing into effect the decisions of the government. His decisions are not final; neither are the Cabinet's. These decisions must be placed in the crucible of the National Assembly, where the people's representatives sit. It is here that the decisions and actions of the A-G and the Cabinet will either be vindicated or abandoned. Anyone that only speaks of the role of the A-G without considering the actions of the National Assembly should be the one to be accused of ulterior motives.
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