Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s proposal to reduce Kenya’s counties from 47 may sound attractive at first glance, but it is a misplaced solution to a far deeper problem. The issue is not the number of devolved units it is corruption, mismanagement, and greed, vices that have simply been devolved alongside governance.
Devolution, as envisioned in the 2010 Constitution, remains one of Kenya’s most progressive reforms. It brought government closer to the people, ensuring that services could reach areas long neglected by the national government. Through county assemblies and MCAs, citizens were supposed to experience governance in real time. But instead, corruption that once thrived in Nairobi was exported to the villages. Theft was localized, not eliminated.
Reducing counties will not stop nepotism. It will not stop governors from hiring relatives and cronies while qualified youths remain jobless. It will not stop inflated contracts awarded to proxies, or the shoddy projects paraded as development. Concentrating the counties into 20 or 10 units will only concentrate the stealing into fewer hands.
The deeper tragedy lies in our political culture. Illiteracy and poverty make voters easy prey to handouts. Many cheer corrupt leaders for giving them a few shillings, blind to the billions looted from public coffers. As a result, MPs implicated in scandals are often rewarded with promotions to governor or senator. Integrity, though enshrined in the Constitution, has become meaningless when money dictates who gets cleared to vie.
Institutions mandated to fight corruption, from IEBC to the judiciary, are captured by politics. Opposition leaders face scrutiny while allies of the ruling elite are shielded. Meanwhile, counties spend millions on public relations instead of development, serving political kingpins instead of citizens.
Blaming the number of counties is a diversion. What Kenya needs is not fewer counties, but stronger accountability, genuine enforcement of integrity laws, and a rejection of leaders who buy votes with handouts.
Devolution is not the enemy. Corruption is. Until we fix that, debates about reducing counties will remain a smokescreen—while the thieves laugh all the way to the bank
