OPINION: The County Leadership Crisis Undermining Service Delivery in Kenya

By Dr. Luchetu Likaka

More than a decade after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, devolution remains one of Kenya’s most transformative governance achievements. County governments were envisioned as engines of equitable development, grassroots participation, accountability, and localized service delivery.

Yet, across the country, many counties are trapped in a governance quagmire characterized by corruption, political patronage, institutional inefficiency, fiscal indiscipline, weak oversight, and perpetual conflict between political and administrative actors.

The promise of devolution is increasingly being threatened not by constitutional design failure, but by leadership and governance deficits.

One of the most persistent governance challenges facing counties is endemic corruption and misuse of public resources. Several counties continue to grapple with inflated procurement systems, ghost projects, fictitious payrolls, and irregular tendering processes.

Audit reports from the Office of the Auditor-General have repeatedly exposed unsupported expenditures, stalled projects, and weak internal controls in counties such as Nairobi County, Kiambu County, Mombasa County, Migori County, and Kisumu County.

In some counties, development budgets are routinely consumed by recurrent expenditure, travel allowances, unnecessary consultancies, and politically motivated projects that have minimal public impact.

The culture of impunity has weakened public trust and diverted resources away from essential services such as healthcare, water, agriculture, roads, and urban planning. Broader national anti-corruption concerns continue to reinforce public anxiety about the integrity of governance in state institutions.

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Political Wrangles, Debt and service Breakdown Cripple Counties

Equally concerning is the growing politicization of county administration. In many counties, governance structures are paralyzed by endless wrangles between governors and county assemblies, governors and senators, or governors and deputy governors. Political loyalty often overrides competence in appointments, resulting in weak technocratic leadership within county executive committees and public service boards.

Counties such as Meru County and Kericho County have previously witnessed prolonged political instability that disrupted service delivery and policy continuity. Frequent impeachment motions, litigation, and factional politics create an environment where governance becomes reactive rather than strategic.

Consequently, long-term planning suffers while public resources are expended on political survival and endless power contests.

Another major governance dilemma is the crisis of pending bills and unsustainable fiscal management. Many counties continue to accumulate massive debts owed to suppliers, contractors, and service providers, crippling local economies and discouraging investor confidence. Small and medium enterprises that supply goods and services to counties often collapse due to delayed payments. At the same time, counties persistently fail to maximize local revenue collection due to leakages, manual systems, corruption, and weak automation. This has created overdependence on equitable share allocations from the national government, leaving counties financially vulnerable whenever there are delays in disbursement from the National Treasury.

Healthcare, one of the most devolved and sensitive functions, best illustrates the governance crisis. Several counties continue to experience shortages of essential drugs, delayed salaries for health workers, inadequate medical infrastructure, and labor unrest among healthcare personnel. Industrial strikes by nurses and doctors in counties such as Trans Nzoia County, Uasin Gishu County, and Machakos County have repeatedly disrupted healthcare services. Weak planning, politicized recruitment, and poor coordination between county and national health systems have undermined universal health coverage efforts. Even where infrastructure projects are launched, sustainability and operational efficiency remain weak due to poor maintenance cultures and limited technical capacity.

Additionally, citizen participation — a central pillar of devolution — has largely become symbolic rather than substantive. In many counties, public participation forums are poorly organized, inaccessible, or manipulated to legitimize predetermined decisions. Marginalized groups, youth, women, persons with disabilities, and rural populations often remain excluded from meaningful decision-making processes. As a result, county development priorities frequently fail to reflect actual community needs. Governance without meaningful citizen engagement breeds alienation, weak accountability, and public resentment.

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Urgent Reforms: Transparency, Merit and Accountability to Rescue Devolution

To rescue devolution from institutional decay, counties must urgently embrace governance reforms grounded in transparency, accountability, professionalism, inclusivity, and strategic leadership.

First, county governments must strengthen public financial management systems through strict adherence to the Public Finance Management Act, digitized procurement processes, real-time expenditure tracking, and transparent budgeting frameworks.

E-procurement systems and open contracting platforms should become mandatory across all countries to minimize procurement fraud and enhance public oversight.

Second, counties must depoliticize public administration by prioritizing merit-based recruitment and professional management. County Public Service Boards should operate independently and shield technical appointments from political interference.

Governors must recognize that counties cannot be effectively managed through patronage networks and populism alone. Sustainable service delivery requires competent technocrats, data-driven planning, and institutional continuity beyond political cycles.

Third, oversight institutions must become more effective and less politicized. The Senate, County Assemblies, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of the Auditor-General, and the Controller of Budget must intensify enforcement of accountability standards while avoiding selective justice or politically motivated oversight.

Audit recommendations should lead to timely prosecutions, asset recovery, and administrative sanctions where misconduct is established. Accountability must cease being performative and become consequential.

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Digital Systems and Ethical Leadership: The Path to Transformative Devolution

Fourth, counties should invest heavily in digital governance and data systems to improve efficiency, revenue collection, and public access to services.

The increasing integration of digital systems in public administration demonstrates the transformative potential of technology in governance, although it also raises concerns about institutional resilience, accountability, and system governance.

Properly implemented e-governance systems can reduce human discretion, minimize corruption opportunities, improve monitoring, and enhance citizen feedback mechanisms.

Finally, governance reform must be anchored on ethical leadership and civic responsibility. Devolution was never intended to create forty-seven centres of corruption and elite capture. It was designed to bring government closer to the people, reduce inequality, and deepen democratic participation.

Kenya’s counties will only succeed when leadership shifts from political theatrics to developmental governance; from personal accumulation to public stewardship; and from short-term populism to long-term institutional transformation.

The future of devolution in Kenya now depends on whether county leaders choose governance as a public trust or continue treating public office as a political investment. Without urgent reforms, countries risk becoming symbols of squandered opportunity rather than engines of inclusive development.

Yet, with principled leadership, institutional discipline, and citizen-centered governance, counties still possess the capacity to become the most effective vehicles for equitable growth, social justice, and transformative service delivery in Kenya.

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Kenya’s counties face a governance crisis. Luchetu Likaka says corruption, patronage and pending bills undermine devolution and demand urgent reform. PHOTO/ Courtesy.