Decentralized planning in Kenya
| Published date | 01 January 1987 |
| Author | John M. Cohen,Richard M. Hook |
| Date | 01 January 1987 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230070106 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Vol. 7,77-93 (1987)
Decentralized planning in Kenya
JOHN M. COHEN and RICHARD M. HOOK
Harvard Institute
for
International Development
SUMMARY
In
1983
the Government
of
Kenya embarked on an accelerated programme of
decentralization known as ‘District Focus’. This exercise in devolution is aimed at promoting
more effective and efficient use
of
scarce domestic resources through efforts to strengthen
planning capacity at the district level, improve horizontal integration among operating
ministry field agents, and expand authority to district heads of operating ministries for
managing financial and procurement aspects of local project implementation. Given the
importance
of
this initiative to the economic growth
of
Kenya and the current search for
administrative reforms that could help accelerate rural development in Africa, District Focus
merits close attention by development experts. This article reviews the historical background,
content, and implementation progress
of
District Focus.
BACKGROUND ON DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
National planning efforts began in Kenya with the formation of committees charged
by the British Colonial Development and Welfare Act of
1945
with preparing plans
for post-war economic recovery. But planning did not take hold until after
independence, when in
1964
a planning ministry was established. Given
responsibility for promoting economic and social development, the ministry’s
activities were guided by Sessional Paper No.
10
of
1965,
entitled
African Socialism
and
ifs
Application
to
Kenya
(Republic of Kenya,
1965).
It stated that:
(1)
rapid,
equitable economic, social and regional development would not occur
if
development activities were allowed to take their own course;
(2)
effective and
efficient
use
of
the country’s scarce resources toward development objectives
required careful planning; and
(3)
planning would not be successful unless it was
backed with efficient, responsive implementation machinery.
Rapid expansion of the private sector after independence (Killick,
1981;
Swainson,
1980),
the spread
of
rural infrastructure through the
harambee
movement
(Mbithi and Rasmusson,
1977),
and President Kenyatta’s decision to forge
a
strong
centralized state controlling a range
of
parastatals (Leys,
1975,
pp
63-169),
reinforced the Government’s commitment to planning development and led to
expansion
of
the budget. This involvement placed severe strains on the public
sector’s capacity to design and implement development, particularly because of
experienced personnel needed for increasingly complex planning and
implementation functions.
The authors are on the staff
of
the Harvard Institute
for
International Development,
I
Eliot Street,
Cambridge, Ma
02138,
U.S.A.
0271-2075/87/010077-17$08.50
0
1987
by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
78
John
M.
Cohen and Richard
M.
Hook
In an effort to address planning problems identified during the First National
Development Plan, a national commission
of
inquiry was established in 1970 and
1971 (Government
of
Kenya, 197 1). Its recommendations, and subsequent reviews
of
other plans, led to reforms which steadily improved Kenya's planning machinery.
Today the Ministry of Planning and National Development (MPND)' oversees five
types of planning activities: macroeconomic, sector-specific, physical,
environmental and district. These are reviewed elsewhere (Ghai, 1972; Killick, 1980;
Pinfold and Norcliffe, 1980). They are co-ordinated through a set
of
sectoral
planning groups, chaired by the MPND, which produce the national development
plans and assist the Treasury in formulating budgets consistent with established
policies (Jenny, 1980). While still plagued by staffing, budget co-ordination, and
operational constraints, Kenya now has in place
a
well-defined planning system that
is
generally accepted by key government and policital leaders. Its most recent
products are the 1984-88 National Development Plan and 40 District Development
Plans. The latter identify on-going projects and programmes, as well as propose new
facilities
or
services, that local representatives and technicians of operational
ministries feel are priorities.
EMERGENCE
OF
A DECENTRALIZED PLANNING APPROACH
Sessional Paper No.
10
of
1965
During the first decade
of
independence the Government centralized control of
development processes in the operational ministries (Leys, 1975, pp. 207-253;
Mulusa, 1970, pp. 233-251). Yet, Sessional Paper No.
10
called for a mixed
planning system that extended to the provincial, district, and municipality levels to
accommodate investment proposals and allow local involvement in the development
process (Government of Kenya, 1965, p. 51). This call was elaborated by the First
National Development Plan (Government
of
Kenya, 1966, p. 8). It directed that
committees be established at
all
levels, composed of field agents of ministries,
palitical leaders, and local citizens, and charged with project planning, co-
ordination, and implementation.
There are several reasons why these policy documents favoured the emergence of
decentralized planning (Found, 1980, pp. 82-83; Delp, 1980, pp. 4-8). First, rural
development was recognized as essential for agriculture to be an engine of growth.
Second, data
on
local areas needed by planners were often unavailable
or
unreliable,
and field agents
of
operational ministries were often transferred,
or
not
well
informed on the areas they worked in. Third, local people were recognized to have
special knowledge about the development opportunities and constraints
of
their
areas. Fourth, central planners had no institutional channels
for
tapping relevant
local knowledge. Fifth, allowing local involvement in planning could generate
increased commitment to development interventions and stimulate self-help
resource mobilization. Sixth, significant ecological, demographic and historical
I
The initial Ministry
of
Economic Planning and Development was absorbed into the Ministry
of
Finance
and Planning (MFP) in
1976.
In 1978 the Ministry split
to
form the Ministry
of
Economic Planning and
Community Affairs, the title
of
which was changed to the Ministry
of
Economic Planning and
Development in
1980.
Merger into the MFP occurred in 1983, followed by a new separation as the MPND
in 1985.
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