Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


             Fighting for Space: Kenya Faces Devolution Challenges

   by Gabe Joselow

   Behind the vegetable and fruit sellers, in a quiet corner of the
   Kwamaiko market outside Nariobi, Karungo wa Thang'wa sits behind a
   wooden desk. He's wearing a suit and a tie; a laptop is open in front
   of him next to a small sign bearing his name.

   A line of people are waiting to see him on a Tuesday morning and each
   takes a turn in a plastic chair next to his desk. "Welcome to my
   office," he said.

   Thang'wa is a member of the Kiambu county assembly, a body created by
   Kenya's 2010 constitution as part of a system of devolution, meant to
   redistribute power and wealth from the central government to the
   newly-created 47 counties.

   A former radio announcer, Thang'wa has a flair for performance,
   although he has set up his desk in a market stall out of necessity.

   "I decided to come to this market every Tuesday because one thing," he
   says. "I don't have an office."
   'Paying the Rent

   Thang'wa is caught up in a nationwide power dispute between county
   assemblies and the central government.

   Governors, who took office last month, have boycotted opening sessions
   because of disagreements about pay, grinding to a halt local
   legislative activities before they could even begin.

   Thang'wa said the government should pay for his new office, but the
   head of a transitional authority set up to smooth the devolution
   rollout has said that is not the case.

   Ekuru Aukot, one of the lead architects of the constitution, said a lot
   of local representatives may be exaggerating what they should get from
   the government, though he said Thang'wa does have a point.

   "In a way the guy is right," he said. "Because he's not really expected
   to work under a tree, I mean this is really simple logic."

   Who's in charge?
   Aukot said devolution first started going off track when former
   president Mwai Kibaki appointed County Commissioners to coordinate
   between the county assemblies and the national government. Governors
   saw the appointments as a direct challenge to their authority and
   unconstitutional interference from Nairobi in county affairs.

   Aukot says governors and county assemblies are wrongly being treated as
   if they are just managers there to distribute resources as instructed
   by the central government.

   "Let the governor be the CEO of the county and therefore make
   determinations as to how the county is being run, but in collaboration
   with the central government," he said.

   Meantime, back at the Kwamaiko market, Thang'wa had just finished
   talking with Naomi Njeri, who came to seek help paying for her deaf
   daughter to attend school.

   She said that while she appreciated the representative meeting people
   in the market, she thinks it would be better if he had an office.

   "He's a big man," she said. "And the market is only a place for things
   to be bought and sold."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/fighting-for-space-kenya-faces-devolu
   tion-challenges/1661482.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/fighting-for-space-kenya-faces-devolution-challenges/1661482.html