Devolution of functions

follows function, to minimize duplication and inefficiency, and to avoid conflicts between levels of government over who does what. Although frontline service delivery functions for which county governments are largely responsible are hugely important, it is also important to ensure that national responsibilities for policy, regulatory, and support functions are met.

County management of sectoral service delivery functions needs to be effective to ensure that services are accessible and of good quality. While each service delivery sector has its specificities, all of them rely on key management processes (such as information and quality control), and all of them need to operate based on systems and structures (such as integrated hierarchies and delegation). If sector departments are poorly organized, do not monitor services, neglect to provide regular on-the-job support and supervision, and the like, then local services will suffer.

Intergovernmental consultation, cooperation, and collaboration are fundamentally important to making devolution work for sector service delivery in a quasi-federal system such as Kenya’s. Effective service delivery is a joint national and county responsibility, and many of the challenges that have arisen (and will continue to arise) cannot be addressed “unilaterally.” The national and county levels need to work together to meet the many challenges of service delivery under devolution—a lot of “what could work better” (as described and discussed in this report) depends on counties and the national government taking decisions together. Strengthening intergovernmental consultation, cooperation, and collaboration is key to

• Improving the organization of service delivery functions; • Identifying the most appropriate ways in which frontline county-level service delivery is supported by the national government; • Ensuring that national and county functions (for example, agricultural research and extension as well as primary and early childhood education) in the same sector are linked up; • Reducing overlap and duplication; • Maximizing informational synergies; and • Ensuring that national policies, regulations, and standards are appropriate and meaningful.

For service delivery “chains” to result in solid outcomes, they need to be linked properly. The same goes for cross-cutting dimensions, such as public financial management and human resources management (HRM), which require that both national and county levels work together to agree on and use common frameworks and processes.

DEVOLUTION OF FUNCTIONS

Service delivery functions have largely been devolved to counties that have taken over the management of these services. The de jure assignment of functions and expenditure responsibilities between the national government and the county governments largely conforms to the subsidiarity principle, and the de facto functional assignment generally matches this de jure assignment. Table 3.1 summarizes the constitution’s assignment of functions to the national and county levels of government. Kenyan counties have taken on responsibilities for delivering many of the functions they were assigned in the constitution, including