Anda di halaman 1dari 3

Mr. Cheserem's Tears: Whose Reality Are Our Policies Based On? By Dr.

Elphas Ojiambo (PhD) and Mr. Lawrence Mwagwabi A story that appeared on the East African Standard dated 22nd July 2013 reveals an encounter between Mr. Micah Cheserem, the chairperson of Revenue Allocation Commission, with reality has made us reflect on the gap between the policy makers and the actual situation on ground. It was reported that he was moved to tears at Lingithya Primary School in Simisi Location, Ikutha District. What he discovered was that hundreds of the children studied under ramshackle structures made of sticks that often exposed them to the harsh weather and that the children walked for 14 kilometers in search of their fundamental right to education. That there were only two government employed teachers to man the school was a shocker. This is the reality not just in Kitui but in most parts of Kenya. The above situation points to a number of issues that must be considered. One, may be the whole idea behind establishing county governments is justified. Two, may be most of us operate from the comfort of the city and are absolutely oblivious of how the rest of the country looks like (you'll also be surprised with the squalor in urban areas where 'food poverty' is far worse than 'absolute poverty'). Three, development can only be viewed from a holistic premise and not from a single dimension. Four, it is important for one to identify those factors that are enabling that can trigger or spur change and development. Fifth, if counties become strategic in their programmes then poverty can be tackled poverty is both a structural and a systemic issue and requires a multi-pronged approach to address it. Sixth, Vision 2030 provides a good framework for the country to move towards becoming a middle income state but it calls for a lot of hard work, focus, goodwill and less pessimism ...one could probably go on and on. Having said this, this reality that Mr. Cheserem came face to face with is common in Turkana, Kwale, Kilifi and several counties that are considered the poorest in the country. It calls for one to understand that planning must be all encompassing. Kenya should not be seen from an urban lens (that is, areas within our eye sight) and making policies based on that kind of prism is wrong. Missing the reality check in the planning and implementation process is also fallacious if not detrimental in the long run. Romanticizing poverty and doing nothing about it is unacceptable. It is a fact that there is evident disconnect between policies and reality. Unless this gap is narrowed even at the county level, one should not expect much change in the economic well-being of the people. Maybe a poverty immersion/reality check should be made mandatory for our policy makers. The only problem is whether they will learn any lessons. But if they do, will they put into use the lessons learnt? Maybe, a starting point should be reading and learning from good practices elsewhere. A recommended book is entitled,Who Changes? Institutionalizing Participation in Development edited by James Blackburn and Jeremy Holland which would be very helpful in explaining what the missing link is. Robert Chambers Whose Reality Count: Putting The First Last would be another one. In these books the discourse and the common denominator is about this missing link. When plans are developed, to what extent do they reflect the reality on ground? Do they reflect the views of the people - their reality - or the perspectives and opinions of the policy makers - their reality for that matter? In most cases, the latter is what happens. We tend to have our reality to be the reality of the poor people. We find this baffling but for sure, policy makers' realities tend to dominate the policy making table but spiced with 'the reality of the poor'. In the case of the incident in Kitui, the issue here is not about allocations. It is whether the allocations reflect the reality on ground. It is like buying a dress for your

daughter only to get home and find that actually you have no daughter and even if she was to be there considering your age, she would not fit in that dress. That is the nature of the missing link. This is what Gandhi had to say about the revival of the village, "I would say that if the village perishes India will perish too. India will be no more India. Her own mission in the world will get lost. The revival of the village is possible only when it is no more exploited. Industrialization on a mass scale will necessarily lead to passive or active exploitation of the villagers as the problems of competition and marketing come in. Therefore we have to concentrate on the village being self-contained, manufacturing mainly for use. Provided this character of the village industry is maintained, there would be no objection to villagers using even the modern machines and tools that they can make and can afford to use. Only they should not be used as a means of exploitation of others." In the case of Kenya, there will be a lot of need to educate the public on economic literacy and budget analysis if we are going to get anywhere with the 'participatory budget making' process. Experiences from India are quite informative on this. Furthermore, in establishing counties, the Constitution of Kenya Chapter 11 Article 174 and 175, is very clear what the principles and objectives of the devolved county governments are. Under Article 174 (c) and (e) for instance, the objects of devolution of government are - "to give powers of self-governance to the people and enhance participation of the people in the exercise of the powers of the State and in making decisions affecting them; and, to recognize the right of communities to manage their own affairs and further their development". This is in addition to the other sections of the article which can be viewed collectively (that is looking article 174 in toto). In this respect, these two Articles makes certain assumptions: that devolution will promote democracy, accountability, unity in diversity while ensuring that people participate in processes related to management of resources at that level while safe-guarding the rights of the minorities. It also assumes that when fully operational, devolved county governments will have communities that are aware and can benefit from these structures. But this is where the hard work is. It is our assertion that there is little investment in developing the literacy that is requisite to achieve the objectives and principles of devolved county governments. This process requires heavy investment in educating people so that they can understand their role in the shift that has been introduced by the constitution. But, on the positive side, all this can be realized if we invoke rights provided for under Chapter 4 of the Constitution of Kenya. It is our contention that as county governance continues to become more operational - the role of the civil society particularly in facilitating civic education and public literacy participation on the budgeting process cannot not be over-emphasized. We are cognizant of the fact that certain participatory methodologies such as those implemented by ActionAid Internationals Peoples Participation to Equality (PPE) project that entailed enlightening the public on the use of Constituency Development Funds (CDF) but was seen to have rubbed Members of Parliament the wrong way. However, such processes are inevitable if the reality on ground is to inform the thinking at the policy making table. If policy makers are keen on changing the situation as currently exists, then we have no doubt they have to embrace a participatory approach. Going forward, participation must be institutionalized. It is one of those things that should be on the agenda of the NGOs. The only challenge in Kenya is that there are very fewNGOs keen on budget matters. This could fit well within the governance programmes of NGOs and therefore would build capacity within this area. As part of the devolution, the county government could also work very closely with the NGOs to make this work. Another aspect will be the transparent budgets - bill boards with allocations per wards and what the funds are supposed to be used for. They could in doing this

link up with the CDF to ensure that there is no double funding, pilferation and wastage. This takes us to the first issue that we talked about, whose reality? With quite a number of NGO gurus having taken positions at the county, this will be one of the best opportunities to address the plight of the people with the people. Participation is a process. The challenge is whether the policy makers take the process seriously. It entails making key decisions based on the input from the public. If the public is used to rubber stamp what the policy makers had in mind, then that is not participation. The question here is what has changed as a result of that participatory process? If well-handled and not dominated by the elites in society, then there are possibilities of having the right thing done. Given that this is a process, it cannot be said at the moment that we are at the stage where we can start reaping the benefits. Remember, public participation was not government speak. Like gender mainstreaming, it is one of those words that are used to give credence to a process that would have otherwise involved public input. Whether those on the drivers' seat believe in it is another thing. Whether those who are supposed to participate understand that they are to do so is another issue. To have proper participation in a public budget process requires capacity building. We would have expected the Government to use the media to educate the public on why they should participate in the budget making process. The assumption is that they know but the reality is that many citizens know nothing about budgets (including the elite) a part from tax increases. People know that there is Government money and yet the majority of the budget is financed from taxation, money that is in our pockets. Thus if policy makers are to come more often in touch with this reality, this might help, to a large extent, in changing their mind set about the situation on ground. Poverty immersion programmes or Reality Checks as called in certain areas would be a good dose for the policy makers. The authors are an economist and a political analyst. The opinions expressed herein are ours and do not reflect those of the organizations we work for.

Anda mungkin juga menyukai