Counties should adopt empowered participation

Kenyans overwhelmingly voted for the new constitution in 2010 which brought with it a new concept of devolution. Devolution is a key pillar of the Constitution and seeks to bring government closer to the people, with county governments at the centre of dispersing political power and economic resources to Kenyans at the grassroots. It can be remembered that Devolution was at the core of the formation of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) that was headed by Prof Yash Pal Ghai.

The Constitution of Kenya Review Act 2000 required the CKRC to consider people’s participation through the devolution of power; respect for ethnic and regional diversity and communal rights including the right of communities to organise and participate in cultural activities and the expression of their identities. It was to review the place of local government, the degree of the devolution of power to local authorities, and options for federal and unitary systems. The devolved system of governments was to check on the widespread alienation due to concentration of power in the national government.

The feeling of marginalisation, neglect, deprivation of resources as well as victimization for political affiliations intensified the push for devolution which was finally realized with the promulgation of the Constitution in 2010.

For devolution to succeed the role of public participation needs to be examined in promoting accountability and local service delivery. Many counties in the first five years of devolution implemented projects with little or total disregard to public participation. Most counties conducted what I may call passive participation where the stakeholders participate by being informed about what is going to happen or has already happened. In this case the people’s feedback is always minimal or nonexistent, and individual participation is assessed mainly through head-counting and occasionally through their participation in the discussion on the development projects.

Meaningful participation cannot occur without communication, unfortunately many of development programmes at the counties have overlooked that, to be truly significant and meaningful, participation needs to be based on the application of genuine two-way communication principles and practices. That is why communication is increasingly considered essential in facilitating stakeholders’ engagement in problem analysis and resolution. Many development programmes have failed and this can be directly or indirectly attributed to the limited involvement of the affected people in the decision making as witnessed in many counties so far.

Participation should be considered a necessary ingredient for successful development, both from a political perspective in relation to good governance and rights-based approach and from a technical perspective which ensures long term results and sustainability of the development programme. In many cases when not involved in a development project from the beginning, the people tend to be suspicious of the project activities and less prone to support them. However, when communication is used to involve them in the definition of an initiative, their motivation and commitment grow stronger.

Further, whenever people are locally involved, and actively participating in the projects, much more is achieved with much less, even in sheer financial terms. It is therefore important for the county governments to adopt empowered participation which will ensure that the stakeholders are willing and able to be part of the participation process and participate in joint analysis, which leads to joint decision making about what should be achieved and how. The role of the people is important since the decisions concern their lives and affect their daily lives whether it is a road construction, a health center, an agricultural project or even a public health campaign.