Here's Ruto's huge chance to improve governance quality

One the most important features of Chinese economic development was subnational effectiveness at promoting growth.

China achieved this outcome via two channels. First, the national government set specific targets and made it clear for subnational leaders that they would be evaluated on the basis of economic performance.

Second, accountability was enforceable. It was not possible to get away with theft of public resources. This meant local officials were not only accountable to their constituents, but also to the national leadership. 

In Kenya, devolution was supposed to create 47 developmentalist units. Yet over the last decade, we have mostly sat back and let corruption become the norm while service delivery suffers. Governors run around wasting millions on crates of soda or “non-carcinogenic” wheelbarrows.

The same governors typically get away with it. This must stop. While it will take longer to unwind the corrupt networks that dominate the national government, it should be fairly easy to signal that corruption will not be tolerated in the counties.

President Ruto can do this by announcing the beginning of zero tolerance on corruption, and pledging to allocate investigative resources (and accompanying legislation) to guarantee convictions of corrupt county officials (with finality) and recovery of assets.

Improving service delivery at the county level would have important spillover effects. Stronger counties would increasingly reinforce national government policies – especially in sectors where there are shared functions.

Is this a naïve proposition? Perhaps. But it is a goal worth pursuing despite the many political excuses not to.

We are living through a critical juncture in our politics. This calls for creativity as we try to improve service delivery and grow the economy.

And what better way to do it than to increase the capacity for performance among governments close to the people?

Anti-corruption and service delivery reforms targeting counties would also provide important lessons that could inform similar efforts at the national level.

Instead of looking for scapegoats to blame for ongoing protests, or scheming to form a “unity” government to stabilise his administration, President William Ruto should be thinking about improving service delivery and the pace of job creation at the county level.

The old playbook of using ethnicity to facilitate intra-elite collusion against Kenyans will not work. 

-The writer is a professor at Georgetown University