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Devolution’s Greatest Shame: When Counties Parade Stolen Glory

The 8th Devolution Conference in Homa Bay was meant to be a stocktaking of Kenya’s most ambitious governance experiment. Under the banner “For the People, For Prosperity: Devolution as a Catalyst for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice,” counties were expected to demonstrate concrete achievements — the kind that come from years of policy, planning, and investment.

Machakos County, under Governor Wavinya Ndeti, instead treated Kenyans to the oldest trick in the political book: borrow other people’s sweat, polish it for a few days, and present it as your own.

Let us be brutally clear. Wamunyu’s wood carvings were world-class long before devolution. Machakos’ sisal baskets are heritage crafts passed down generations, not initiatives birthed in the Governor’s office.

Honey production is as domestic as the family kitchen in these parts, with no county-owned refinery in existence.

Fruit processing, too, has been quietly driven for decades by cooperatives and small entrepreneurs without a shilling of county investment.

And yet, in Homa Bay, the Governor’s stand suggested a grand county-led agro-industrial revolution. This is not innovation — it is appropriation.

Worse, it is deception, packaged for photo opportunities, and political marketing.

This is why Kenyans are losing faith in devolution.

Instead of building infrastructure that empowers farmers to add value to their produce, county governments are building façades. Instead of creating institutions that survive political seasons, they are creating Instagram moments.

The allegations of “attendance on paper” — where county staff sign up for trips they never take just to pocket allowances — should outrage every taxpayer.

This is looting in broad daylight. If true, it is not only unethical but criminal, and it demands an audit.

Devolution was never meant to be an exhibition contest.

It was meant to bring resources closer to the people and spur local development.

Machakos, like many counties, is discovering the easy road: hire a display consultant, source heritage crafts, dress your staff, and call it progress.

The hard road — investing in real production facilities, training farmers, linking them to markets — is ignored because it does not yield instant political returns.

If counties keep mistaking optics for outcomes, we will have created 47 new bureaucracies of spin, each draining the public purse while hiding behind colourful conference stands.

Machakos’ Homa Bay charade should be a wake-up call — not just to voters, but to oversight bodies and the national government.

Devolution will only work if counties are held to account, not for the gloss of their exhibitions, but for the grit of their delivery. Until then, we are funding theatre — and very expensive theatre at that.

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