September 30, 2020 · Sarah Wanja
Devolution has been hailed as an important milestone in fostering sustainable development in Kenya. County leaders have been traversing the globe as they seek to promote social, political, economic and cultural interests of their regions. They are increasingly responding to global challenges which are interrelated with domestic issues as they seek to represent the local communities over whom they have responsibilities to harness resources.
The Kenyan constitution grants counties the autonomy of legislating on what can be defined as low policy issues. These range from investment promotion, environmental issues, cultural and educational exchanges. At present, Kenya’s development agenda is guided by seven key agendas that include Kenya Vision 2030, the “big four” agenda and county governments play a key role in driving this development agenda. The ways they do this are wide and varied.
One of the key ways has been to woo investors through policy and incentives. Counties such as Machakos have attracted investors by cutting back on bureaucratic blockades and creating a conducive business environment that has seen an investment portfolio of over 100billion shillings in the last 6 years. Meru, on the other hand, has offered free land to Chinese investors interested in setting up agribusiness processing plants and hospitality ventures while promising to support them in getting hold of national government licenses.
Other ways have been counties committing themselves to goals of certain international institutions as they seek grants and funding for the development of their regions. Kisii County, for instance, has received Ksh110 Million from the European Union to strengthen its Banana value chain. In contrast, the World Bank has provided aid to Nyandarua in the setting up of a potato processing plant. USAID, through its AHADI programme, has partnered with 22 counties to improve governance. In contrast, counties such as Makueni, Turkana, Baringo and other ASALs counties have signed deals with WFP to promote sustainable food systems within the county. County leaders are playing host to leaders of these multinational companies and other visiting foreign dignitaries in the likes of ambassadors. The governors are also embarking in foreign trips as they seek investments for their regions and in the process are promoting the Kenyan foreign policy.
While the national executive holds the constitutional power to direct foreign policy and conclude international treaties, its control of foreign affairs has been increasingly challenged. Sub-State diplomacy in Kenya has been plagued with occurrences of diplomatic blunders, abuse of foreign trips by sub-state government officials, as well as general inefficiency in the planning, implementation and pursuant of international activities. The country has spent billions of shillings funding larger than necessary delegations comprising members of parliaments and county leaders in addition to complaints by host countries of late alerts on impending visits or some visiting delegations not actually attending the scheduled meetings.
Challenges within the conduct of sub-state diplomacy arise in the operationalization of the Constitution at the policy level whereby lack of clear mandates and limits of power has led to county governments clashing with the national government. Some counties have embarked on foreign initiatives with no clear objectives and have failed to comply with established constitutional guidelines either due to ignorance or utter disregard of these provisions. Although some county governments have put in place administrative systems to better manage sub-state diplomacy across different departments and regions, a weak culture of accountability in this sphere of government means that compliance with and enforcement of appropriate regulatory frameworks have been inadequate. Also, a majority of the county governments lack skilled and knowledgeable personnel in matters of foreign affairs, and while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has embarked on training some of the county staff, it has been established that the trained staff are not effectively passing on the knowledge and skills acquired onto other officials within the counties. Largely, the Sub-State governments’ role in international affairs faces constitutional compliance and resource challenges.
With the increased activities of county governments in international affairs, cooperation between the two levels of government is not an option. It is a must. The involvement of county governments in international relations needs a more effective and fluid intergovernmental coordination not only between the national and county government but also with other international actors and multi-lateral institutions. Both the national and county government have to be mutually respectful of their constitutionally provided legitimacy and powers as they seek innovative ways to fruitful cooperation in this increasingly important field of sub-state diplomacy. It is recommended that county governments’ engagement in foreign policy must be complementary to the national government whereby county governments are obligated to render support to the central government’s foreign policy objectives through cooperation, consultation and the enactment of appropriate legislative policies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a duty to promote capacity development for county governments to equip them with the necessary skills needed in the engagement of international affairs. The Ministry also must develop a framework to guide engagement between county governments, the Ministry and foreign countries and coordinate these interactions. It should also in partnership with the county governments, establish an implementation, monitoring and evaluation plan for all the Memorandum of Understandings signed by the county governments.
On the other hand, the liaison, parliamentary and county affairs division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be strengthened and given an oversight role and promote effective use of communication dissemination channels. Lastly, County governments should establish a specific unit tasked with the responsibility of all international affairs conduct. This department should take the responsibility of providing appropriate administrative and technical support to the county personnel on all issues pertaining to international relations and also act as the office tasked with coordinating interactions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The writer is a training consultant and a foreign policy researcher. sarahwanja@gmail.com
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