Nyeri County Assembly in session :As legislative units, counties need to come up with social policies that would address disparities among groups in their area of jurisdiction Section 99 of the County Government Act, 2012 mandates counties to conduct civic education, which is critical for consolidating and stabilising democracy. Civic education is crucial in creating civic values supportive of participation, accountability and responsibility as drivers of nationhood. The near disengaged civic attitudes among many Kenyans are not in favour with the aspirations envisioned in Article 3 of the Constitution of Kenya. Therefore, county government leadership would perhaps need to reorder the hierarchy of their political values; if they are to mitigate the crippling effects of tribalism, corruption, impunity and bad governance. of conflict either inhibits development or skews it along ethnic lines. The devastating effects of social fragmentation along ethnic lines make it impossible for people to appreciate divergent opinions. Examples could be drawn from the March 4th acrimonious general elections that saw some Kenyans wage post-election violence online. Those who perceived themselves to be in the majority were unwelcoming and in some cases calling for repression of those with dissenting views. Now, how can counties safeguard the rights of minority and their wellbeing if authoritarian attitudes seem prevalent among those in leadership? Finally, it appears that our civic culture places greater values on ethnic identity. Whether this has a bearing on the much needed participatory culture, one need to look at how generally people perceive public processes. Perhaps, because of social mistrust among some communities, individuals don’t feel that their participation could have meaningful change in leadership. Communities don’t believe that without one of their own in the system, nothing good can come their way. How then can counties create an environment of collaboration, for conflicting communities to have stake in the county politics? As legislative units, counties need to come up with social policies that would address disparities among groups in their area of jurisdiction. As a matter of fact, county governments devolved with them conflicts spots that might obstruct development prospects. It is easier for communities to mobilise along ethnic lines than it is along development agenda in a polarised society. Therefore, for counties to tackle the problem of poverty and endemic unemployment, the political authority would need to inspire in the public sets of civic values and attitudes that are supportive of devolution, which is participation, social trust and respect for divergent and unpopular positions. The writer is the Programmes Coordinator, Jesuit Hakimani Centre
Turf struggles
Secondly, aware that for devolution to make sense to Kenyans, our political values and attitudes needs to be reengineered. For instance, a number of counties have already experienced factions and turf struggles, which could mean that the seemingly political culture
THE SEED - VOL 25, No. 8, AUGUST 2013
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