Recently i participated in a county integrated planning programm, this came as a turning point on how i perceive devolution and development. It dawned on me that devolution is not an automatic economic take off but rather is more of a means to an end. I was previledged to be invited at the tabernacle of decision making to articulate the way foreword of my county Bungoma.
Indeed, i had to consult the great marcus garvey and his words, "liberate the mind, then you can liberate the body." we fail to understand that we can build roads and not trigger trade, we can as well build schools and colleges but not eradicate ignorance and illitracy, we can put up factories and other industrial plants but never realise an economically strong society, and so is devolution. We are overwhelmed by the excitement of power that is purported to be responsive and effective as far as the common mwananchi is concerned. As much as this might be true, we should be very careful, because theres a very thin, delicate line between devolution and confusion.
In this forum, i realised a people with hope, optimisim and joy that can be summed up as apprehension because most of us seemed not to understand the many incomplete equations. We were supposed to deliberate in groups of six on several issues of development. Fortunately i found myself in a group of elderly people who some are serving in the provincial administration as area chiefs. This was an opportunity for me to discover what experience in the public sector has got in store for devolution.
However, as we discussed i realised that the spectacles with which we viewed devolution was different. the distance which the lenses of our mind could see were also different.While this programme was mearnt to reveal the profound issues in society that the devolved system had to address, we lacked the intellectual think tanks, and the delicacy of creativity since most of the members were invited not by design but by level of seniority. If the business of the day was to be fruitful and viable ideas were to be tabled, we had to save that for another day, fresh blood, with strategic thinking aspect was to be brought on board.
Devolution needs the reformation of the mindset, the re-fabrication of the social fabric, the reconstruction of societal amenities and infrastructure. More-so, niches of decision making have to be constructed and terbanacles where serious projects have to be conceived and articulated too have to be erected. Integrating county plans therefore needs discretion and strategic thinking. we should elevate our reasoning beyond the old order and open up our borders to the world. we should be thinking of a glass half full of water and how we can engage in value additions, we should construct bridges between consumption and production. Ladies and gentlemen, devolution is our darling, but sadly it is a stranger to all of us. let us not be cowed, let us not shy from confronting the uncertainty, because when you go for any journey, this uncertainty is a necessary evil.
