NORTHERN KENYA AND DEVOLUTION
The Birth of Nation, Coming of Devolution and the FCDC.
The question of when Kenya was born may be seen to be an easier one, but hard at the same time because it’s informed on the individuals different perspective.
Undeniably it will take great deal of deliberation for a consensus to be developed on the above question, because there are those who think this nation was born through the hard fought independence battle won on the blood and sweat of the gallant Kenyans who put their life on the life on the line to deliver Kenya and to them Kenya was born in the year 1963 when it gained it’s independence but northerner like myself will dispute this position because, the question of when this nation was born wouldn’t be discussed just on the front of when the independence was achieved, achieving independence was one thing but living the dream was another as the sending home of the white colonial master opened ways for others to continue with the colonialism in different form.
Kenyans all over were heavy with expectation when independence was realised, to them the end of colonialism meant opening of new chapter in how we were to go about our national affairs but we were so wrong.
The few who were left with the instrument of power pushed all other into the political wilderness and kept them out of decision making, a reality which angered everyone and made Kenyans very hostile towards each other, the divide between the haves and the have not widened and those close to the centre of power reaped big time at the expense of those seen as less deserving, this approach by the then government of the day entrenched a sense of betrayal in other Kenyans and they yearned for better days when all would be treated equally, this opportunity came in form of constitutional overhaul so that things could get remedied and Kenyans relationships with each other getting redefined.
undoubtedly it’s the above suspicious which informed Kenya’s overwhelming support for the new constitution which saw it promulgated in the year 2010, the constitution which seriously redefined matter of governance and allowed the electorates the front row seat in the day to day running of their affairs and assumed the driving role of their destiny management.
The promise of the constitution is one thing but the realisation of the said promise is quite another as the feedback from the electorates is as varied as the very citizenry themselves are.
Let’s concentrate on the northern Kenya, the area which suffered the worst form of marginalization over the years but handled a lifeline by the new constitution as it made provision to remedy all the age old concern through the much talked about devolvement of development funds and equalization fund which was purposely meant to serve as a catch up instrument with the rest of Kenya.
Northern Kenya as it were has serious infrastructural deficiency, particularly of the primary or what we call basic infrastructure and unless we get it right, then moving on will prove herculean task.
Development and growth wouldn’t just happen, it has to be planned and planning involves getting your priorities right and resources scheduling so that you get to dispense off with the primary concerns on which a lots of things run, the artery which duly act as facilitative and equally serves as an incentive for not only the locals but also the non-locals to see the area favourably and ripe for investment.
What are this things?
The critical infrastructure that will very easily open up the area to others and makes the access easier enough, and on this front they are major project happening which will transform northern Kenya’s fortune going forward and we have to credit the frontier counties development council for this effort as it actively lobbied for the development community to prioritise capacity development of northern Kenya, indeed very recently the chairperson of the outfit Mr Mohamed Simba Guleid took a group of development partners on the duty tour of this area and developed an understanding of this areas immediate needs and how well partnership of purpose can be formulated between themselves and the county establishment.
THE PLACE OF FCDC IN THE SHAPING OF THINGS IN NORTHERN KENYA.
Many counties saw the need to form partnership of purpose and economic block so that they create synergistic think through and possibly take the advantage of their vast resources and the consequent economy of scale and here northern Kenya too is not left behind.
Under the able leadership of his Excellency Mr Simba Guleid, FCDC is very active, up and running, but they will need to fine tune their operation with that of the county government so that they minimise incidence of duplication of roles and possible many white elephants.
They need to pick on high value economic project with bigger positive spill over effect that will catalyse economic activities all over and ensure the return on the investment is realised sooner than later while ensuring that it’s the kind of engagement that is one off investment requiring and/ or with little maintenance cost so that it free resources to be invested in equally other important sectors of the economy.
The welfare of the masses is another important matter of citizens concerns and its critical the fcdc convinces the counties to think of joint investment in areas like power generation, referral hospital putting up, livestock sector development and education sector support so that the citizenry are freed from daily concerning about this things and such freeing them from what is primarily government responsibility will see them dedicate themselves to entrepreneurship and productive economic engagement.
Matter of climate change and drought mitigation should also feature very strong on their agenda as it will have debilitating consequence on the life and times of the resident of the northern counties particularly given their vulnerability, informed by their predominantly livestock sector economy.
Well devolution is here to take us places but it take seriousness for it to bear good fruit that will benefit everybody, political goodwill has to be in place and support from everyone equally has to be secured.
Dangerous precedent like unnecessary benchmarking trips with little returns has to be avoided at all cost and so is the question of unnecessarily over employing to just satisfy political constituencies, every effort should be deployed towards creating enabling environment so that guys can learn to fend for themselves as opposed to looking out for hand out from the county establishment.
The question of when Kenya was born may be seen to be an easier one, but hard at the same time because it’s informed on the individuals different perspective.
Undeniably it will take great deal of deliberation for a consensus to be developed on the above question, because there are those who think this nation was born through the hard fought independence battle won on the blood and sweat of the gallant Kenyans who put their life on the life on the line to deliver Kenya and to them Kenya was born in the year 1963 when it gained it’s independence but northerner like myself will dispute this position because, the question of when this nation was born wouldn’t be discussed just on the front of when the independence was achieved, achieving independence was one thing but living the dream was another as the sending home of the white colonial master opened ways for others to continue with the colonialism in different form.
Kenyans all over were heavy with expectation when independence was realised, to them the end of colonialism meant opening of new chapter in how we were to go about our national affairs but we were so wrong.
The few who were left with the instrument of power pushed all other into the political wilderness and kept them out of decision making, a reality which angered everyone and made Kenyans very hostile towards each other, the divide between the haves and the have not widened and those close to the centre of power reaped big time at the expense of those seen as less deserving, this approach by the then government of the day entrenched a sense of betrayal in other Kenyans and they yearned for better days when all would be treated equally, this opportunity came in form of constitutional overhaul so that things could get remedied and Kenyans relationships with each other getting redefined.
undoubtedly it’s the above suspicious which informed Kenya’s overwhelming support for the new constitution which saw it promulgated in the year 2010, the constitution which seriously redefined matter of governance and allowed the electorates the front row seat in the day to day running of their affairs and assumed the driving role of their destiny management.
The promise of the constitution is one thing but the realisation of the said promise is quite another as the feedback from the electorates is as varied as the very citizenry themselves are.
Let’s concentrate on the northern Kenya, the area which suffered the worst form of marginalization over the years but handled a lifeline by the new constitution as it made provision to remedy all the age old concern through the much talked about devolvement of development funds and equalization fund which was purposely meant to serve as a catch up instrument with the rest of Kenya.
Northern Kenya as it were has serious infrastructural deficiency, particularly of the primary or what we call basic infrastructure and unless we get it right, then moving on will prove herculean task.
Development and growth wouldn’t just happen, it has to be planned and planning involves getting your priorities right and resources scheduling so that you get to dispense off with the primary concerns on which a lots of things run, the artery which duly act as facilitative and equally serves as an incentive for not only the locals but also the non-locals to see the area favourably and ripe for investment.
What are this things?
The critical infrastructure that will very easily open up the area to others and makes the access easier enough, and on this front they are major project happening which will transform northern Kenya’s fortune going forward and we have to credit the frontier counties development council for this effort as it actively lobbied for the development community to prioritise capacity development of northern Kenya, indeed very recently the chairperson of the outfit Mr Mohamed Simba Guleid took a group of development partners on the duty tour of this area and developed an understanding of this areas immediate needs and how well partnership of purpose can be formulated between themselves and the county establishment.
THE PLACE OF FCDC IN THE SHAPING OF THINGS IN NORTHERN KENYA.
Many counties saw the need to form partnership of purpose and economic block so that they create synergistic think through and possibly take the advantage of their vast resources and the consequent economy of scale and here northern Kenya too is not left behind.
Under the able leadership of his Excellency Mr Simba Guleid, FCDC is very active, up and running, but they will need to fine tune their operation with that of the county government so that they minimise incidence of duplication of roles and possible many white elephants.
They need to pick on high value economic project with bigger positive spill over effect that will catalyse economic activities all over and ensure the return on the investment is realised sooner than later while ensuring that it’s the kind of engagement that is one off investment requiring and/ or with little maintenance cost so that it free resources to be invested in equally other important sectors of the economy.
The welfare of the masses is another important matter of citizens concerns and its critical the fcdc convinces the counties to think of joint investment in areas like power generation, referral hospital putting up, livestock sector development and education sector support so that the citizenry are freed from daily concerning about this things and such freeing them from what is primarily government responsibility will see them dedicate themselves to entrepreneurship and productive economic engagement.
Matter of climate change and drought mitigation should also feature very strong on their agenda as it will have debilitating consequence on the life and times of the resident of the northern counties particularly given their vulnerability, informed by their predominantly livestock sector economy.
Well devolution is here to take us places but it take seriousness for it to bear good fruit that will benefit everybody, political goodwill has to be in place and support from everyone equally has to be secured.
Dangerous precedent like unnecessary benchmarking trips with little returns has to be avoided at all cost and so is the question of unnecessarily over employing to just satisfy political constituencies, every effort should be deployed towards creating enabling environment so that guys can learn to fend for themselves as opposed to looking out for hand out from the county establishment.
As you've well put it,"The promise of the constitution is one thing but the realisation of the said promise is quite another"we the people need to rethink our choice of leaders in this Nation!
ReplyDeleteExactly, the promise will only be realised when we have in place people who mean what they say, not this characters who are busy preaching wine but drinking water.
DeleteI agree!
DeleteLet the northern counties and relevant stakeholders work with the citizens to achieve the objective of devolution.
ReplyDeleteIts important, nothing beats collective mind, but the county establishment aren't prepared to welcome anybody into the fold for obvious reasons.
DeleteHaving said this, the citizenry must not get tired because its their resources which is at stake.
I agree matter of climate change adaptation and mitigation need to be considered because the reason why people fail to invest largely in northern Kenya is because today people are in Bulla Pesa tomorrow Kina,Wargadud,Habaswein, Takaba, Kutulo, Fafi, Hagadera, and Elwak in search of pasture and water
ReplyDeleteExcellent knowledge of my world. Good one my brother
DeleteIt narrows down to one thing, integrity in good governance. Making the best with what you have.
ReplyDeleteWell put
DeleteWe will sit here all day until the cows come back if we don't begin this conversation with integrity
ReplyDeleteWe've tried the best we could to institutionalize integrity into our system but we've never made it.
DeleteBut all is not lost because day after the other we are getting there though at snail pace.
It begs the question..where is each individual's integrity?
ReplyDeleteA million dollar question, Kenyans will very easily shelve their integrity if an opportunity to disingenuously inherit the world present itself.
DeleteWe've been so indoctrinated into making it in life the easy way
I agree empowerment is, teach a man how to fish not to give them fish.
ReplyDeleteBut an empowered Man develop some sense of independence which the politician are allergic to.
DeleteThey would rather see us happily answer to them than be on our own.
When discussing the question of marginalization of the Northern Frontier District (Isiolo, Marsabit, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa), don't forget to mention that at the dawn of this geopolitical entity called Kenya, it is the people of this region who embraced irredentist tendencies by agitating to be included into Somalia but not Kenya....their quest was supported by Mohammed Siad Bare's expansionist Mogadishu regime.....this gave birth to the Shifta war from independence to 1966 when the Shiftas suffered heavy losses....Sadly Jomo Kenyatta regime never treated the region as part of Kenya and with Moi's Nyayo ideology, the NFD remained marginalized for a whole 39 years.... With Kibakinomics, the region started feeling as part and parcel of Kenya.... and with 2010 constitution, the area is truly experiencing a rebirth as you correctly say....
ReplyDeleteKuloba my brother, historian are blowing this things out of proportion, yes we once tried cessation because of the marginalisation we got subjected to, we obviously didn't mean it n therefore disregarding us because of our simple threat was in bad taste and highly contemptuous.
DeleteBut anyway things have started to look up for us and for the northerners, sky is now the limit n In sha Allah we will catch up with the rest of Kenyans in due course,
Well put
ReplyDeleteWell said
ReplyDelete