References

The county pragmatically took over, maintained, and expanded the assets of key services without the formal accounts and formal takeover, and this helped uninterrupted provision of local services and fulfilling functions. But now the county needs to move to a higher class of action and institutionalize asset management.

Budgeting for asset maintenance and renovation or purchase of new assets under the development budget requires a comprehensive asset register, which provides estimates of depreciation and time for asset replacement or disposal. With this component missing, county budgeting for assets is more ad hoc than information based.

The list of assets produced by the Makueni County CALC is not sufficient to develop an asset register; it is, however, a good starting point to commence a comprehensive asset validation, tagging, and valuation process that can be used for an asset database.

The verification and valuation of assets are incomplete and need more time and concerted efforts. It is vital for the county government to understand the gravity of the next steps and assign adequate resources and human capacities. Adopting a short- to medium-term action plan to establish an asset management framework, work out disputed cases, and complete valuation is a logical and vital next step moving forward.

The CALC teams had no responsibility to identify assets, lands, and buildings or current assets that various national government entities are supposed to hand over based on the devolved functions (Constitution 2010). This is a substantial next step for full takeover of county assets and would move further toward a balanced devolution.

Inherited current assets and liabilities are small in Makueni County, yet they are toxic assets and liabilities, so concerted efforts are required to work them out. The county should increase emphasis on inventory and verification of revenue-generating assets, revise and update lease and rent contracts of land and buildings, and start collecting these asset revenues consistently and forcefully.

Finally, Makueni County’s project management system and dashboard is an exemplary case of transparency to inform and convince current and future partners (banks, investors, and developers) and helps in the effort to develop assets strategically and expand assets faster. These have helped Makueni Government accomplish development projects; the county’s development budget moved around or over 40 percent of total budget after devolution, an exceptional scale among the 47 Kenyan counties.

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