THE PROBLEM WITH GOVERNORS' SO FAR

1. They have moribund communication and public relations departments. Most Governors' just picked media practitioners mainly from mainstream media houses without much experience in managing and cultivating corporate and political image. Most of the websites, no all the websites, of the County Governments are worse than child's play! They do not have the Governors' and his executives schedules and speeches. Do not have downloadable relevant County Governance documents like CoK 2010, Devolution Laws, County Government Bills (say Finance and Appropriation Bills); The County's biodata; No link to relevant national government websites and totally have no relationship let alone link to County Assembly websites thus denying access to the County Assembly hansards. 2. They have rewarded friendship rather than capacity in appointing of advisers. Most have advisers who have no networks independent of the governors in the counties. In addition to that most of the official advisers only took note of devolution when their governors won. I mean, I suspect most advisors have no readings and do not take to reading on devolution legally, politically and literally speaking. 3. Not engaging the public Almost without exception, the Governors are treating the public as recipients of governance and not participants in governance of their counties. They only use opportunistic meetings and forums to highlight on what their governments are doing or planing to do. Despite the Constitution of Kenya (2010), County Governments Act, Public Finance Management Act etc providing for definite public participation in planning, approval, execution and monitoring of governance activities in the counties; none of the Governors have made deliberate efforts to develop definite frameworks for public participation especially for bills and policy development. 4. Lack of language diligence. In crafting their communication especially the bills has exposed their poor official eloquence underbelly. Take for instance the current headache they are having on the finance bill; mortuary charges have always been there but when you call them taxes you are saying something else. They should easily get this done by getting to expose what the charges were before the finance bill and explain that the reflection now is resultant of health facilities now being under the county governments. Slaughter, upkeep and vaccination of livestock and pets have always been in our laws. They should just makes copies of former municipal authority budgets and financial projections to prove that they are not bringing anything new! 5. Abandoning their manifestoes All Governors without exception had campaign manifestoes; both party/coalition and individual manifestoes, yet they have abandoned them exposing as headless chicken just firefighting on all fronts including the County Assembly, civil servants, Senators, Members of National Assembly and opponents in the last election. 6. They believe the campaign lies! That a good Governor is a manager NOT a politician! Hear me dear Governors and hear me good: So long as you participated in elections, you campaigned and people voted for and against you; you are not only a politician but by being the winner you are expected to be on top of the political game here. Godspeed!

IS DEVOLUTION FAILING OR IS DEVOLUTION BEING INTENTIONALLY SABOTAGED?

Are the governors digging there own graves? Whats drives the national government so enthusiastic with the performance of the county governments without showing the same enthusiasm towards its own performance? Why are the governors seemingly making the same mistakes ala the finance bill and the numerous taxes all over? Are the taxes really new or are they just getting highlights now. Are the taxes really taxes or charges for services actually rendered? Why did those national government mandarins castigating governors for only spending on recurrent and not development be honest enough to also insist that the Auditor General's Report 2013 was a quarterly progress report for the financial period March -June 2013? That during this time; - All financial transactions and budget priotisation being implemented thus was by the national government through the Transition Authority? -That most of the governors' had not yet even constituted their County Executive Committees? -During the same period, the national government expenditure ratios for recurrent versus development was worse in favour of recurrent? -All governors for the first time took partial control of their expenditures on 1st of June 2013? Again I ask, is the architecture of devolution so intrinsically designed to fail or devolution is being systematically being fought from the national government and other centrists in the civil service? Business community and political stakeholders of all kinds?

DEVOLUTION 2014 AS SEEN FROM 2013.

1. The UhuRuto Presidency will increase waxing lyrical on all the politically correct messages on devolution. Governor's may just creatively use these statements to secure more political commitments. NB, not necessarily to the exclusive benefit of the citizenry. 2. Senators will get egged on by the National Assembly to engage the Governors in backyard wars political supremacy being the allure. 3. Governors are going to be media darlings for main media houses. Media is keen to reduce the feel most important sense by the national government! 4. Members of the County Assemblies will fumble through and emerge the most bruised from the ongoing battle for space and relevance 5. Almost all laws, policies and plans will variously be petitioned by the county citizenry. 6. Political party lines will blur between the governors 7. Petitions to collect signatures for recalling Members of County Assemblies and Senators will be the highest. 8. Attempts to amend the constitution will target; Giving Governors a bigger role in homeland security (may succeed); Make education a county function (will fail); Increase the minimum threshold of fund allocation to counties from 15% (May fail); Separate county elections from national elections (will succeed)

GOOD ADVICE IF YOU ASK ME

Mr Julius Kipng’etich, Equity Bank’s chief operating officer, told the governors they would have to take the difficult route of having some civil servants shown the door because they were not prepared for devolution. “Leadership is about having willing followers. The reality you have on the ground is that you have no followers,” said Mr Kipng’etich, a former head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, credited with putting it in the right track. “You need to negotiate for a massive reorganisation of the public service. If you don’t do that, you will not be re-elected. The public service wasn’t prepared for devolution. I know them. Some of them might have swallowed you already,” he said. He told the county chiefs at the on-going Governors’ Summit in Naivasha that, without workers who knew what their agenda was, they would have a dismal record at the end of their terms. After the reorganisation, he said, the governors would then pick staff they could work with and the rest would have to leave.