Devolution and the promise of democracy and inclusion: An evaluation of the first decade of county Introduction governments, 2013-2022

Abstract

Two variables preoccupy this entire study – decentralisation and inclusion. We hypothesise that there is a positive relationship between decentralisation and the inclusion of various groups; that the more we decentralise the more we attain inclusion. That the converse is also true: the more we centralise the more we marginalise. The conceptual basis for the historical relationship between decentralisation and inclusion in Kenya was addressed in Chapter 2 of this study. Chapter 3 discussed the first variable (decentralisation) in historical perspective, while Chapter 4 reviewed the second variable (inclusion) also historically. All the chapters above cover the trajectory of the respective variables from pre-colonial times to the first decade of devolution under the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (2010 Constitution). What emerges clearly from the expositions are the struggles for decentralisation and inclusion by those on the outside, and efforts to congest more powers at the centre and to exclude the others by those on the inside. However, the clamour for decentralisation and inclusion won a major battlefront when the 2010 Constitution, which entrenched devolution as one of the overarching principles, was promulgated.