In politics, if you do not care about yourself then trust
individuals and not laws or institutions. I come from an impoverished county
called Nyamira. A county that has only two tarmac roads. When it rains, I never
go out of our compound for you cannot differentiate a
farm from the road. No matter the vehicle, you will stagnate. When you come for
my burial, let it not shock you where I was born. We set eyes on electricity
3 months ago and the only source of news used to be the radio. Even soccer ni kwa
radio.
We fetch drinking water from the spring-direct from an exposed source.
Irrigation is not an option thanks to God for the heavy rainfalls. Our coffee
sector is crippled and the tea sector has been affected because of poor roads
and the KTDA vehicles cannot collect tea leaves promptly making my mother and
other tea farmers to lose many kilos of tea because the more the delay, the
more moisture leaves lose and the more loss my poor kinsmen encounter.
Education is a luxury, the general rule is Form four and the exception is
University. Markets are pathetic and infrastructure a nightmare. Now let me
give you the picture of Meru County. Electricity is a basic. Tarmac roads as
many as our ‘paths’. Almost every homestead is fixed with two pipes, inlets and
outlets of water for irrigation among other purposes. When I visited Meru
during the last general elections, I knew the importance of raw power and
resources. I am a good student of history. I have always followed keenly the
story of the Kikuyu community and I can tell you that by 1963, they had built
58 independent schools owned by the Kikuyu community and later the government
took over running of the institutions.
The first Kikuyu graduate was sent to
South Africa for a BA using community funds. Long before any Kikuyu became a
president, they knew what to do. On the same note, I have been nurtured by
Luos. Born and raised amongst my best friends. Luos were equally organized
under Jaramogi. I remember social hall, Ofafa Hall among other projects Luos
owned as a community courtesy of their organization. Since I knew myself to be
a Kisii, I have never heard any property we own or have ever owned as a
community except the inheritance of land. Through devolution, the dream to
develop as a community is real. We never owned a school as a community, now as
a county we can, we never owned a hospital, now as a county we will, we never
beheld the miracle of tarmac roads, and with devolution we can. Prof. Nying’uro
used to tell us how during the Moi era Kalenjins had disproportionately many
tarmac roads that they used to dry maize on the roads. While on my way to Meru,
Thika road is not the only wonder but compared to my home I saw paradise…roads,
electricity, booming business centres, well-built markets etc.
I will not
object on whichever basis a referendum that increases the resources to my
community. Let us also enjoy good roads, maybe one will be called ‘Ochengo
Super Highway’. Let us have electricity to discover our IT gurus, let us have
irrigation systems, we help solve food deficiency in Kenya. Let us build better
schools, attract better teachers, have better education to compete with the
rest in the civil service. We need more resources. However, my tribe is not the
will never be more important than our collectiveness. When we will have
problems we cannot solve as a county, the national government must come in hand
to help us as citizens.
We cannot be self-sufficient and we need a national
government that is strong. I want resources to my people but resources to
counties should not be weakening of the national government but complementary
for we must accept that the aim of governments is to ensure, social and
economic development despite who controls resources. We cannot settle on an
arbitrary figure 405 or 45%. This is why we need selfless economists, public
finance experts, political scientists and lawyers to guide us. I have read the
Bomas Draft Constitution (section 239 and 240) and the current constitution,2010(Article
202 and 203). The amount arrived at should take into consideration:
1) National
interest.
2)
National
debt and obligation.
3)
Needs
and interests of the National Government
4)
Emergencies
or temporary needs.
5)
Amount
required for performance of devolved functions.
6)
Fiscal
capacity of the devolved counties
Resources cannot be devolved without commensurate functions
being devolved. My county must develop but my country must be stable and my
national government must be strong enough to wade off external aggression and
to suppress internal disintegration. He who loves this country must support
devolution based on the above parameters not arbitrariness. If you tell me 45%
without telling me my national government will survive with 55% I WILL NOT
SUPPORT. If you tell me 70% to counties and show me how the national government
will survive with 30%, I WILL support. The means used to arrive at the
percentage and mutual survival of Counties and the Nation will justify the end.
Without such a criteria or even a better one, the calls for the referendum will
be a fight against the national government just because you think the president
comes from a particular region and you need to frustrate him. I am young and
will be around for a while. Uhuru will not be the President forever, he may
give us more without a referendum, but who cometh as president after he? If
enshrined in law, every man shall be bound regardless who rules. Now we depend
on the goodwill of Uhuru to have more than 15% and on the law to have 15%.
Tomorrow we may have a president without goodwill, we must enshrine it not
because Uhuru has denied us, but because we do not know what the future
holds.Jubilee or Cord, counties must survive and the national government must
survive. Achebe said, let the eagle perch and the hawk perch, whosever says to
the other ‘don’t perch’ may his wing break!!!!!
Ochengo Onguso is a Graduate of Political Science and Public Administration and Philosophy from The University of Nairobi. He is also a Law student from the same institution.
He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Intellectus Consultancy
melchym1@gmail.com
Ochengonguso@intellectusconsultancy.com
