Why reducing the number of counties will not magically eliminate corruption

By Sebastian Karani Asava 

I have listened keenly to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s proposal to reduce the number of counties from the current 47. While the opinion might sound attractive at first glance, the justification is misplaced.

Let’s be honest: our problem is not the number of devolved units. Our problem is corruption, mismanagement, misuse of resources, and greed, ills that have simply been transferred from the national government to the counties.

Devolution, as envisioned in the 2010 Constitution, is one of the most progressive ideas Kenya ever adopted. It brought governance closer to the people. It was meant to ensure that where the national government cannot reach, the county governments can. Through the county assemblies and their MCAs, this model should directly impact the lives of the mwananchi. But what happened? The disease from the top infected the bottom. They transferred theft back to the villages.

Reducing counties will not magically end corruption. It will not stop nepotism. It will not stop governors from employing their family, friends, and political brokers while qualified youths roam jobless. It will not stop scandals where Governor's award contracts to their proxies, do shoddy work, then parade with handouts like heroes.

I was recently in my home county engaging some youths about voting for a corruption-free governor. Part of the feedback I got was heartbreaking. Illiteracy and poverty in the villages have blinded many. Imagine a Standard Two dropout, unable to write their name, praising an MP because they received 200 shillings, never mind that the same MP is stealing millions through inflated tenders in building whatever they're using to blindfold them. And what happens next? The MP is promoted to senator, or to governor, and the looting becomes bigger and better. That is our tragedy, not the number of counties.

If integrity, as enshrined in the Constitution, meant anything, half the people sitting in our leadership today would never have been cleared to vie. But money speaks louder than values in Kenya. IEBC clears candidates who fail the integrity test, and the courts become a playground for corruption cases. Leaders use our resources to hire the best lawyers to defend themselves while hospitals lack drugs and roads remain impassable.

So, why are we blaming the number of counties when the institutions mandated to fight corruption are controlled by politics and target only opposition governors while protecting those “in the system”?

Why are we blaming 47 counties when governors spend millions on PR instead of development, or when they dance to the tunes of political kingpins instead of serving the people?

The truth is simple: reduce the counties to 20 or even 10, and without addressing corruption, nothing will change. In fact, the stealing will just be concentrated among fewer hands.

We, the wananchi, must reject these diversionary tactics. The focus should not be on slashing counties. The focus should be on slashing corruption, enforcing integrity, and breaking the cycle of electing thieves because they gave us a handout during campaigns.

Devolution is not the enemy. Corruption is. And unless we fix that, we can keep singing about reducing counties while the thieves laugh all the way to the bank, our bank.