New Kenyan constitution: What will happen to local authorities?

The dramatic arrest of Kitisuru Ward Councillor John Njenga Kinuthia by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) investigators earlier this week (Tuesday 5th October 2010) on charges of soliciting Ksh 650,000 from a Mr John Mbau Irad allegedly to release the renewal of a land leasehold right, has once again cast an ugly spotlight upon the Nairobi City Council and its infamous “Kanjoras”.

The KTN coverage of the Councillor's arest and his rather candid remarks on camera alluding to the deeply entrenched cancer of corruption afflicting City Hall, astonished and equally amused many viewers. He confidently told the KACC officials that: “You are only trying but you cannot eliminate corruption here.”Click here to see the video.

This incident raises a very profound question on the future of the colourless Nairobi City Council and many other local authorities, especially in light of the new constitution that now establishes County governments as the third-tire of governance and primary units of devolution. With many Kenyans excited about the prospects of improved resource management under the County governments, its important to ask ourselves whether these high expectations can realistically be achieved under the new governance structures.

In all likelihood, the County governments are expected to replace the grossly mismanaged and corrupt 175 local authorities. For the first time, local governments will be headed by a Governor directly elected by County voters after the next general elections. Voters will also elect Ward representatives to sit in the County assembly with an oversight mandate over the County government.

As things stand today, Municipal Mayors and Town Council Chairpersons are elected by their fellow Councillors during what can only be described as cloak and dagger affairs, frequently inundated by claims of bribery and chaotic scenes during the actual voting process. This will now change somewhat with Governor candidates appealing directly to the voters. The winning Governors are expected to nominate their executive committee or ‘cabinet’ from outside the assembly representatives.

On the face of it, this appears to be a very positive development. Unfortunately, I foresee a situation in the 2012 general elections where the current low calibre of Civic leaders simply mutate into the new County assembly men or women. Going by what we’ve seen in the past, the hapless voter will thereafter continue to be fleeced by these pretenders to leadership.

Misplaced voter expectations

I’ll be the first to admit that there’s been lots of optimism carried in the mainstream media and popular discourse that Kenyans will now enjoy greater accountability at the grassroots as a result of the new constitutional structures. But am afraid these lofty hopes are seriously misplaced.

One of the biggest phenomenon standing in the way of these aspirations is the difficulty of electing well-educated, informed and professionally experienced assembly men and women to oversee the County governments. The low-quality leadership witnessed over many years in our local authorities has often been the result of the “three-piece” voting patterns that occur during the general elections. This is where voters elect without any scrutiny, the civic and parliamentary candidates who happen to be in the same political party as their favourite presidential candidate.

With the media completely ambivalent to going-ons at the civic level during election campaigns, I predict that the same phenomena will recur again in August 2012. And this time it will be more difficult for the voters to scrutinise aspiring candidates due to the high number of elective positions that will have to be filled in a single day. In addition to the President and Members of Parliament, voters will be expected to elect a Governor, Senator, a Woman Senator representative and County assembly representatives. These are 6 elections in a single day!

Clearly, I expect to see a scenario where most voters will default to electing ALL their candidates based on their choice of President – and then we shall have for the first time, “6-piece voting patterns” or whatever lexicon will be invented at that time to describe this electoral tragedy.

Solutions to Kenya's electoral tragedy

I call it a tragedy because we shall end up saddled with the same cast of cartoons who have completely messed up our local authorities in the past, now disguised and re-packaged under brand new titles of Assembly representatives. The only solution that can avert this looming electoral disaster is to segregate or delink the various elections so that voters can adequately scrutinise aspiring candidates at all levels.

For example, delinking the County level elections to a separate year from the general elections would have a remarkable and far reaching impact on the way voters make choices at the grassroots level of governance. Many Countries including our next door neighbour Tanzania, have been doing this for years.

This separation will encourage the media to focus on aspiring County leaders and hence enlighten voters to make informed choices. Under this scenario, it will be even possible to hold open debates and media interviews to gauge the competence of aspiring County Assembly men or women.

More important, this approach would ensure that hooligans and goons who have nothing credible to offer voters at the Assembly, don’t get a chance to hide behind a Kibaki, Raila or Kalonzo election euphoria as happened in the 2007 elections. They would have to face the voters on their own merit.

Voters would also be compelled to scrutinise carefully whom they vote for in such an election. After all, you are only voting for your County government representatives and no one else!

Opponents of this proposal have often cited the high cost of holding separate elections as an obstacle to the implementation of this idea. However, I’ve always maintained that not doing so will prove to be far more costlier to the taxpayers.

With a convoluted, multi-level type general election as formulated in our constitution, the tragic consequences are:
• A low-calibre, unaccountable leadership that mismanages limited resources;
• A leadership lacking progressive ideas and policies for their counties;
• A leadership that engages in rowdy fights to resolve differences; and,
• A morally bankrupt leadership that unapologetically engages in corruption (see video link above).

Any apparent monetary savings made from holding one major general election every five years will be wiped out many times over by the above factors, even before the next general elections. If anyone doubts me, I would recommend an honest look at the performance history of our local authorities over the last 40 years.