Devolution of Powers and Peace-Making in Kenya: Dividends for the 2017 General Election?

Abstract

Kenya’s devolved system of government was adopted in 2010
as part of the long-term peace processes in the aftermath of the
2008 post-election violence. Decades of ethnically divisive use
of centralised state powers and resources led to a resentment of
centralisation and universal support for the principle of devolution
during the constitutional reform process. Kenya is now
in the fourth year of implementing a devolved system of government
composed of the national government and 47 devolved
units known as counties. At the heart of Kenya’s conflict is the
struggle for control of centralised state powers and resources, a
factor that has been fuelled by past use of such powers to enrich
and enhance the president’s community or home regions. It was
hoped that devolution will occasion dispersal some of these powers
and resources and thereby diffuse the unhealthy competition
to control spoils at the centre. While the peace objectives of devolution
in the Constitution are clear, the actual “peace dividends”
of implementing devolution are not as clear. The four years of
implementation of devolution, from March 2013 until the August
2017 general election, provide an opportunity to examine whether
the devolved system of government has made a contribution
to peace and national unity. This article investigates two main
issues: the constitutional design and its relevance to peace, and
the actual implementation processes.