Devolution will cost over Sh36 billion annually

By ALLAN KISIA

Devolution will take full effect after next General Elections when county assemblies and governors will be elected.

Complete implementation will, however, take place gradually and is expected that devolution will be fully operational after five years as envisioned in the Constitution.

With devolution, powers will be transferred from central government to county governments, and the country will be divided into 47 counties.

The Constitution recognises one of the main objectives of a devolved government as the right of communities to manage their own affairs and further their development.

The big question then arises. How will the resources be shared and how much will it cost to run the devolved governments?

A parliamentary report indicated that it will cost at least Sh36 billion to set up a devolved system of Government, which includes upper and lower house as well as county assemblies.

It currently costs Sh6.6 billion per year to run the current Parliament, but the figure is expected to shoot upwards to Sh14.3 billion.

This is because of Senate, which is to be made up of 68 members.

The Parliamentary Budget Office further noted that it will cost Sh21.75 billion in a year to run the 47 county assemblies. This includes a total of 1,450 wards.

However, the Sh36 billion needed to set up a devolved system of Government does not include the cost of hiring staff, paying salaries for MPs, Senators, County representatives and the infrastructure required for regional governments.

The next Budget, therefore, will have significant changes on how revenues will be raised and how budgets and spending is prepared and executed and who controls, which finances between national and county Governments.

“The Government must note that expenditure pressures could lead to serious imbalances,” said the March 2012 report.

employment rates

New staff will be needed at both national and county government levels to enhance service delivery.

Economically, enterprises and employment tended to concentrate in Nairobi, which led to migration from rural to urban areas.

In Europe, ten years of devolution coincided mostly with falling levels of poverty and improving employment rates, for example in UK, particularly in Scotland and the North East of England.

In Kenya, it is likely to take longer than ten years to see the true impact of devolved policies for disadvantaged groups.

Areas with high poverty levels, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, are majorly in North Eastern. These areas include Turkana, Mandera, Wajir, Marsabit and West Pokot.

A 12 per cent proposition has been made for allocation of various counties based on poverty levels. The equalisation fund from national government has also been put in place to ensure development of all areas is looked into.

“Worthy to be noted is that 20 per cent of the fund will be shared equally among 47 counties. Other counties that shall prove themselves worthy by exemplifying good performance shall get an extra 15 per cent of funds that goes to counties,” Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA) indicated.