Devolution as a Means to Self-Governance in Kenya: Its Comparative Analysis in the Country's Constitutional Documents

Abstract

In Kenya, the Swahili term jimbo (singular) and majimbo (plural) is used to refer to federalist strategy or form of government. However, whenever the term has been mentioned, especially by the political leaders, it has been portrayed as a strategy that would divide the country and lead to conflict between its various ethnic communities. Consequently, while the country attained its independence on the basis of a federalist constitution, it was immediately replaced by a centralist one and since then Kenya's presidents have in their various public addresses portrayed fedaralism as a divisive rather than a unifying strategy for the country. Unfortunately, the centralised rule that was entrenched during the First (1963- 1979) and Second (1979-2002) Republics was responsible for bad governance practices that included; mismanagement of the economy, favouritism in distribution of resources to regions and hence regional imbalance, corruption, single party rule and above all lack of self-governance and poverty of majority Kenyans.