It was meant to be the magic bullet for Kenya’s inequality—a system that would take resources from the ivory towers of Nairobi and place them in the hands of the villager. Twelve years later, the dream of devolution is gasping for air, choked not by a lack of funds, but by a new breed of "administrative bandits" occupying Governor’s mansions.

The latest report by the Controller of Budget paints a grim picture of a system gone rogue. Despite counties gobbling up hundreds of billions from the Exchequer, the impact on the ground remains negligible. [...](asc_slot://start-slot-1)Instead of decentralized development, we are witnessing decentralized corruption. The village has not become a hub of industry; it has become a crime scene where the "slimy cabals" of county tenders steal from the sick and the uneducated.

The "Feckless Bureaucrats"

We must call a spade a spade: many of our 47 counties have been converted into playgrounds for feckless, visionless bureaucrats. These leaders believe that the primitive accumulation of public cash—buying palatial homes in Runda and driving fuel-guzzlers—is a mark of ingenuity rather than a betrayal of trust. Cronyism has been elevated to a religion, and the Governor is its high priest.

• The Pending Bills Crisis: Suppliers are auctioned daily while county accounts hold billions in unabsorbed development funds. It is a moral scandal that a government can bankrupt its own citizens by refusing to pay for services rendered.
• The Health Paradox: We have built hospital shells without medicine and hired staff without paying them. The result? A devolved health sector that sends patients to private facilities owned by the very officials meant to regulate them.

A Warning to the Council

The Council of Governors (CoG) is quick to cry "sabotage" whenever the National Treasury delays disbursement. Yet, they are silent on the internal rot. If devolution dies, it will not be killed by the President or MPs; it will be murdered by Governors who chose "eating" over leading. Kenyans are tired of the excuses. It is time to stop the banditry or scrap the experiment.