Does Devolution Accelerate Economic Growth?

While devolution has some challenges, the pros outweigh the cons because of the great flexibility in decision making and allocation of resources at a local level.

Kenyans voted to decentralize the government in 2017 and thus creating a working relationship with the national government in terms of power and revenue sharing.

Many Kenyans were excited by the move that would begin a massacre of the rapid growth of rural-urban migration. This would mean decentralization of resources and a lower cost of living.

A successful devolution process involves:

• Capacity building.
• Income generation activities and proper service delivery channels.
• Community engagement in key sectors of the counties.

Advantages of Devolution

• Devolution brings the government’s services to the people at the local level.
• Devolution can be a vaccine to curb dictatorship and oppression as the citizenry become politically wiser.
• Public participation increases as locals create solutions for their well understood local pain points.
• Economic growth as the central government shares the burden, concentrates on national innovative practices and more pressing national issues.
• Tailor made policies are made that suit local situations.
• Accelerated implementation of government programs.

Disadvantages of Devolution

• Devolution can be a breeding ground for tribalism and negative ethnicity.
• Constitutional rights can be abused and overlooked by the majority if not checked.
• Integrity can be compromised if proper checks and structures are not put in place.
• It may also create rigidity and slow down decision making process