National Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi has suggested a drastic reduction in the number of counties from 47 to just 14—or even the complete abolition of the devolved system of government.
In an interview on March 19, Mbadi said devolution has increased government’s wage bill and leads to mismanagement of funds.
Mbadi explained that the devolved units have become unsustainable for the government to manage due to their high wage bill.
He explained that the 8 provinces in the Old Constitution will ensure resources get to the grassroot and help address the current financial crisis affecting the country.
“I would go for a maximum of 14. There were 8 provinces but if you look at Rift Valley, it was like two-three provinces combined and also the Eastern province,” he said.
“I would go for a maximum of 14 but even 8 would still serve us perfectly well, with devolution of resources going to the grassroots.”
Unnecessary Positions in County Govts
Mbadi faulted the county governments stating that they have all kinds of staff like directors of fishermen, boda bodas, music, culture among others.
He said these directors have deputies and they all earn huge salaries.
The CS argued there are just too many people in administrative roles adding the 47 units are just too much for a country.
Additionally, he said devolution led to the formation of more legislative subdivisions including sub-counties and many more wards which are expensive to fund.
“47 counties each one with full-fledged government, a governor who is the mini president with a deputy who is running mate and struggling to find work to do and then you have ministers, all of them went for 10 which is the maximum, we have Chief Officers, more than 10, and then we have county assemblies,” he said.
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Mbadi says running government Expensive
He revealed the government is currently paying Ksh80 billion per month at the national government level for salaries.
He said this adds up to Ksh.960 billion annually out of the Ksh.2.5 trillion which the government collects through taxes.
Additionally, he said the government spends about Ksh1.1 trillion on loan repayment leaving no money for development.
“We can devolve resources without devolving the heavy government to the grassroots. It is unsustainable,” he said.
Mbadi recalled the old days when Kenya first had the Majimbo Constitution, with regional governments and assemblies that were slightly fewer compared to today.
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There are Too Many MCAs
He stated that the country should have a discussion to determine whether this is the kind of devolution Kenyans wanted.
According to Mbadi, Kenya has too many Members of County Assembly (MCAs) and they are still forced to nominate many people to achieve a third gender which is mandatory in the Constitution.
“Kenyans should get into a conversation whether is this the type of devolution that we needed? No, we needed resources to be devolved not too much government,” he said.
“We have so many MCAs, and Kenyans have been electing very few women, and we have also given ourselves a constitution where we are saying not less than two thirds should be of the same gender so now, we end up nominating so many people.”
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