Majimbo is neither new nor the devil portrayed

From: Joram Ragem

Majimbo is neither new nor the devil portrayed

The Standard, Published on November 4, 2007, 12:00 am

What is going on in the Kenya seems to be a wholesale and unfounded demonisation of decentralisation. It is not a completely new factor in Kenyan development planning and implementation. What was the District Focus for Rural Development?

The best persons to answer this question are retired President Moi and Mr Simeon Nyachae. In fact it is quite surprising that Nyachae, the architect of decentralisation during retired President Moi's governance, has remained extremely silent regarding majimbo.

Does he know that ODM has a point to make and, therefore, does not want to support it just because it is from the opposition?

The first step is to understand the decentralisation terminology, which has three principal categories: deconcentration, delegation and devolution. Deconcentration is generally the most common and limited form of decentralisation. It involves the transfer of functions and/or resources to the regional or local field offices of the Central Government agency. In a deconcentrated system, authority remains within the same institution (eg the Ministry of Health) but is spread out to the territorially decentralised instances of this institution.

Delegation implies the transfer of authority, functions, and/or resources to an autonomous private, semi-public, or public institution. This institution assumes responsibility for a range of activities or programmes defined by the Central Government, often through the mechanism of contracting.

Devolution is the cession of sectoral functions and resources to autonomous local governments, which in some measure take responsibility for service delivery, administration and finance.

Majimbo should only be understood in the above context. Another characteristic of decentralisation that should not be forgotten by the electorate is that of costs. More responsibility at the local level implies more costs for the local households hence more taxes. Regional differentiation in terms of income and sub-state revenue is exhibited more in a decentralised system.

In Germany for example, the Bavarian state is considered richer than Mecklenburg Vorpommern. In a decentralised Kenya, Mombasa or Mount Kenya region will always be richer than Eldoret or Homa Bay.

Jumba Idalinya,