This more a symptom of deeper problem - the problem is lack of gov at local level. In germany you have deep devolution. In kenya before counties - CDF was only recourse for some areas that were politically marginalized - you need to sing to Moi to get stuff done - or have a minister from your area.
Ward fund - CDF fund - should exist - with role of MP/MCA as more the supervisor - not the executioner - while in the future we need five levels of devolutions - or six - we have national - regional - counties - sub counties - ward - and even village - with proper share of revenues.
In Germany in your local town - you have your own mayor running basic stuff in smallest of towns - you rarely care about Berlin.
Kenya in meantime should keep CDF - we move to ward fund - and eventually village fund. This way people can fix issues at their local level without waiting for Ruto to come to their village.
Some of the issues in village ward or mtaani do not require lots of money - fixing a pothole - is something villages can do - leaking roof in chief offices - building foot bridges - fencing a park - basic stuff - build schools - murram roads - etc. This will reduce useless harambees.
Village fund can work with 200K per annum (maybe about 20,000 villages); Ward fund 20M (1,500 wards in Kenya); CDF (200M) - only 300; Counties (10B) - only 47.
If you do the maths - we can 4B is enough for village fund; 30B for wards; 60B for CDF; 470B for Counties; This still not even 1/3 of total national revenues; and everyone will be more than happy.
And great thing - these funds - the money is actually spent - boosting local economy - the national money get into court cases - delays - big corruption - and shenagians.
Just define what each fund can do - village fund for example should be used for clearing bushes on the roads, draining water, etc - cdf for schools and some roads - ward fund for nurserys and some roads - counties can concentrate on health and agriculture
Then we had better invest in civic education before every elections. What do people learn in school nowadays? CDF was the worst thing that ever happened in Kenya. It has corrupted the legislature arm of government to bring it into the executive. Even the courts have declared CDF illegal and of late confirmed by the Appeals Court. Any WARD Fund will end up being declared illegal.
As of MCA contributions to their people, hiyo ni yao. Those expectations are their own fantasies.
MCAs planing to impeach a governor even before work has started. On what grounds? It will never pass through the senate.
That is not what people on the ground understand their job description to be - everyone elected in kenya is expected to do stuff - to become executive - kenyans do the checking of gov on their behalf. MCA is expected to fix local roads, contribute to harambees, provide solutions - not complain to a governor or a president.
This is our own hybrid kienyenji democracy. We cannot import first world democratic ideals and principles to third world - where most people dont even understand what legislature mean - they elect MCA to fix small things, Mp to fix big things, governor bigger things and president to fix complex things.
I say we find a way around it - keep ward fund - keep cdf fund - even senators and women rep need some fund- everyone should be part of the solution and they need money to do this - and the conflict of interest - just make sure the MCAs and Mps have just about enough to fix small problems - and still be unhappy enough to complain to governor and president.
Topic: Njuri - the governor of meru wont last (Read 2715 times)