From dried fish to governors' seat; the ridiculous display of Devolution 2025

A devolution conference brings together county and national leaders, experts, investors, and the public to deliberate on the progress made so far, compare notes, learn from best practices, and exhibit the best a devolved unit has to offer the country.

However, if the physical form of shame was to be photographed, look no further than the ongoing Devolution Conference in Homa Bay, where governors and senior county officials displayed lavish and extravagant spending but had nearly nothing to showcase in their exhibition stands.

It is an event that has gobbled millions of taxpayers’ money, a luxury trip for politicians and their cheering squads, and a show-off of some of the newest fleets of luxury cars.

From the demonstration of wealth and opulence, it was easy to tell where the Sh4 trillion that President William Ruto said counties have received since 2013 has been going, and how the need to satisfy personal comfort is a priority for the devolved units.

The county chiefs, their junior staff, and political allies, tagged along to enjoy the fruits of devolution, took South Nyanza by storm, disrupting traffic with cool cars, taking over high-end hotels, with some donning the best clothes and watches money can buy in a display of ostentation.

And the razzmatazz did not come cheap. For registration, counties spent Sh20,000 for each member of their team to attend the fête. The Standard established that nearly all the county governments travelled with delegations of between 30 and 100 personnel, including exhibitors picked from their businesses to display their items in the county stands and funded by the devolved units.

The Standard established that all the 47 counties spent a fortune running into millions to plan and attend the fête, drawing daily huge allowances of between Sh5,000 for the lowest-ranked official to more than Sh70,000 for executives.

While some opted to spend their nights at the lavish hotels in Homa Bay, Rusinga Island, and Mfangano Island, others opted to make the daily 107-kilometre trip to Homa Bay from Kisumu with their fleet of fuel-guzzlers.

Nearly all the governors had a convoy of at least three luxury vehicles, as their County Executives and other junior officers zoomed across the town in other county vehicles.

Critics claimed the costly conference was a money-minting, self-reward scheme for county honchos alongside their youth wingers.

For each delegate, the devolved units paid Sh20,000 as registration, which means a county like Kilifi, with a representation of nearly 50 personnel, spent at least Sh1 million on registration alone.

On the flipside, the county is among those that had nothing to show in their stands apart from a troupe of dancers they had tagged along to showcase the Mijikenda culture. At the conference, The Standard established some counties carried youth wingers and cheerleaders to attend the fête. Consequently, the move reduced the number of professionals, who had to give way for joyriders.

This, perhaps, explains why some of the exhibition stands only had one expert and a grouping of individuals wearing county-branded shirts but admitting they do not work for the respective devolved units.

Cornelius Oduor, the Deputy Executive Director of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission, described the display as an embarrassment and a massive dent to taxpayers.

“They have made devolution very expensive and are using public money wrongly. Some counties have rewarded youth wingers who are only here for the per diems,” he said.

Yesterday, as some delegates pitched tents at the conference venue, others were busy enjoying the cool Lake Victoria breeze at the shores of Homa Bay.

A spot check at the exhibition stand was akin to a horror show and a spectacular failure in the use of the Sh4 trillion counties have received since 2013, in terms of innovation and promotion of trade.

A number of exhibitors confirmed to The Standard they were only picked by the counties to market their own products and disguise them as county products and had been promised the event would provide them with the perfect platform to sell their goods.

To dupe the delegates, all the exhibitors were handed uniforms branded by the county governments. However, the mask falls off immediately you begin to interrogate their products and the county’s input in their development.

In other stands, a few county officials picked items from the streets and in local supermarkets to display, as the devolved units struggled to showcase meaningful development or innovations.

For Bungoma, so bad was the situation that their stand only had the governor’s chair, two unpacked mobile phones, a large TV screen, a visitors’ book, and a medical kit scrambled in a corner. When The Standard visited the stand, about eight county officials were struggling to set up a documentary on the TV screen.

The scene was a sharp contrast to the display their governor presented to the fête — posh heavy guzzlers and sharp-dressed assistants with sleek watches and sharp ties. On his social media account, Governor Kenneth Lusaka’s press unit posted pictures of a man who has held devolution in a grip.

According to Maurice Nyaranga, the deputy chief of staff who was manning the stand, he blamed the lack of items on politics with the organisers and an alleged scramble for space.

“We have items here and they will be displayed,” he said.

Another junior official claimed the planning was subpar and that a late attempt to hire exhibitors to display on their stand flopped following a delayed release of funds.

“It is extremely embarrassing. This was a money-minting scheme. What can anyone learn from seeing the governor’s seat?” he posed.

A few metres from their stand lay another exhibition of embarrassment. Kisumu County, which prides itself as among the heavyweights of development, showcased books, pamphlets, and biscuits.

Hellen Aketo, a trainer from Akado Vocational Training Institute, displayed a model of a vehicle she says she uses to train students.

“We assembled it from scratch and placed it on a board, and we are using it to train students at Akado. Other items on display were Governor Nyong’o’s books.

On the flipside, The Standard established that some county officials spent the nights as far as Kisii to attend the fête, despite working in Kisumu.

At the Siaya County stand, only a single student from Siaya Polytechnic was displaying an irrigation system project they are working on as an institution. Some delegates described the rest of the displays as an eyesore.

Paintings of various leaders, including former President Uhuru Kenyatta, ODM leader Raila Odinga, Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, and Blue Economy CS Hassan Joho, among others, were stationed strategically as one of the key exhibits.

Additionally, the county also displayed four pieces of dried fish. However, the fish was a product sold by a private company based in Luanda.

Governor James Orengo was cruising in the latest model of Toyota Prado.

Homa Bay County, the hosts, dedicated an entire huge tent to itself alone and placed tens of county workers dressed in matching colours, displaying designs of futuristic cities and towns. Not even the much-touted Mokwa, a maize flour that the county unveiled about a year ago, was on display. A county official told The Standard that the processing plant is no longer working.

Some of the displays were placed by Smachs Foundation, based in Nairobi, an organisation that said it was looking for an opportunity to partner with the county government.

“It is when we want to work with the county government on climate action and agriculture,” said Alex Nyagon, the head of partnerships.

Nandi County displayed textile products done by a consultant for a company that county officials said is three months old.

Other products by cooperative societies available on the stands included milk products and yoghurt produced by private players.

At the Nakuru stand, which had more than 30 delegates, an exhibitor confided to The Standard that apart from paying for their accreditation, the devolved unit was also paying them allowances.

“We only took care of our transport. The rest of the bills were taken care of by the county,” he said.

Other exhibitors from the Coastal region told The Standard that officials reached out to them to come and display products on behalf of the county and handed them branded T-shirts.

At the Nyamira stand, only two cooperative societies were showcasing coffee products and traditional items made from wood, as well as bananas.

Chris Owala, a member of the Kenya Devolution CSO’s working group, said money does not go to the needs of the people.

“Productive areas have been ignored and that is why we are seeing nothing in the stands but huge convoys of cars,” he said.

On Wednesday, Ruto challenged the governors to ensure they prioritise people-centred policies and programmes. “Invest in people-first policies and programmes, ensure every shilling has an impact, and bring government services closer to the people,” he said.

Additional reporting by James Omoro