OPINION: BWIRE - Professional and focused media is a key player in devolution success

Even as media faces challenges, those interested in public interest media, should find it important to support media including county-based media practitioners and media outlets, for as its today, a lot of accountability issues and related critical aspects of devolution are being swept under the carpet to the detriment of the public good that comes with a professional and functioning media. 

Key in enhancing media skills in devolution is the urgent issue of space working spaces for media and content producers at the county levels- Journalists are critical partners in national development- and relating with them professionally, proactively providing information to them and giving them safe working spaces is one big investment in enhancing the democratisation process in this country. 

This will come closely with efforts aimed at helping journalists monetize their content and copy right their original works against plagiarism and misuse.

More importantly, in the media viability debate, deliberate efforts must be made to reach out the big technology companies that use journalists content to pay.

The County Government Act No. 17 of 2012 requires that County Government use the media to create awareness on devolution and governance; promote citizens understanding for purposes of peace and national cohesion; undertake advocacy on core development issues such as agriculture, education, health, security, economics, sustainable environment among others; and promotion of the freedom of the media.

Sections 94 and 95 of the Act provides that County Governments use the media to create awareness on devolution and governance; actively and deliberately promote citizens understanding for purposes of peace and national cohesion; undertake advocacy on core development issues such as agriculture, education, health, security, economics, sustainable environment among others; and promotion of the freedom of the media. 

In other words, County governments are required to use media to promote County development agenda that speaks directly to the philosophy of the country and Vision 2030.

The media has a huge responsibility, to only remain vigilant in monitoring the implementation of the devolution project, but more importantly, the media also bears the responsibility of sensitizing and education the public on the virtues, opportunities, and challenges of the devolution process. 

The media also bears the responsibility of sensitizing and educating the public on the virtues, opportunities, and challenges of the devolution process and how it links up with the constitutional provisions for a solid and unitary nation state.

It’s important for the media to highlight the history of devolution and the many attempts towards decentralizing governance and service delivery in Kenya that has mixed results and remind the country the dangers that we should avoid in the devolution process not just transfer of monies and resources to the counties by the national government.

 It’s important the accountability responsibility goes beyond delay in capitation of the countries to critical look at the why for example many of the counties are grappling with consumption of the development vote heads, issues with the anti-corruption agencies and labour courts, Controller of Budget, Kenya Revenue Authority among others. Is it lack capacity issues or mere impunity.

As the Independence Constitution and debates show, the intention of decentralization in Kenya has been to ensure that the national Government (the Kenya state) direction of development process and planning is based on local inputs as a means of improving socio-economic wellbeing of local communities. 

The focus is on economic and social development of the local people based on exploitation of local resources while at the same time ensuring national unity and sharing of our diversity as one nation.  

Thus, by media looking at the budgets developed by the county governments, it call enable the citizens see if what is planned is economically relevant to them.

Through “Sessional paper No. 10 of 1965 on African socialism and its application in planning” the government established the principle of state direction of development process and decentralization of planning based on local inputs as a means of improving socio-economic wellbeing of the rural community.

The Sessional Paper No. 4 of 1975 on ‘Economic Prospects and Policies’ that followed laid emphasis on Government’s commitment to rural development’.

In furtherance of this thinking, since late 1970s and early 1980s, the 6 Regional Development Authorities (RDAs) that were established were given a common mandate to plan and coordinate the implementation of regional development activities.

Suffice to note that a District Focus for Rural Development Strategy (DFRDS) that was developed in 1983 that made the district the epi centre of all development interventions emphasized economic and social development via exploitation of local resources.

Other decentralization interventions including the Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF) Act of 1999 only provided for the disbursement of funds to Local Authorities to supplement the financing of the services and facilities they are required to provide under the Local Government Act. 

The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) that followed in 2003 through the CDF Act aimed at controlling imbalances in regional development especially focusing on poverty reduction at constituency levels. 

The Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) that was implemented in 2000 in tandem with the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) followed by the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (2003- 2007) stressed the need to accelerate local government reform process to further improve local service delivery. 

The Economic stimulus Programme of 2009/10 that aimed at turning the Kenyan economy around towards long-term growth and development particularly after the effects of the 2007/08 post-election violence that badly damaged the Kenyan economy urgently did not attempt to erode the powers of the national government in relation to local governance structures.