Socioeconomic development initiatives are supposed to add values to the lives of the people. These values can be seen, observed, measured and felt whenever they occur, and translate into improvement in standards of living and human dignity.
There are various indicators that can be used to assess whether programmes and projects being carried out by any leadership bring any meaningful changes to the people.
It's four years now since county governments became operational. Kilifi people who, averagely, about t 58% live below the poverty line had high expectations on the devolved government structures.
The county has been associated with persistent food insecurity; inadequate access to clean drinking water; inadequate health facilities and services; poor agricultural productivity; poor roads network; poor academic performance; high rate of school dropout; poor housing in rural areas; high rate of unemployment; unexploited agro-processing, mining, fisheries and tourism sectors; hopelessness, desperation and high rate of poverty; reaching to 89% in parts of the county.
Devolution as enshrined in our constitution was meant to bring services closer to the people, and the people to determine and decide their own development destiny. County leadership are thus expected to identified and address needs of their people based on the devolved development functions
Whether the objectives of devolution will be achieved or not depends on how county governments perform in addressing the priorities and the urgent needs of the residents.
It's a fact that not all programmes and projects benefit the intended consumers directly. It's thus paramount for county governments to set their priorities right and come up with policies and activities that will directly address the people's suffering and pull them out of the dungeons of poverty and hopelessness.
In reference to the aforementioned existing issues of the people of Kilifi county and the county government
having existed for two years now, I would wish to pose the following questions:
1. Has food production in Kilifi improved? At what rate? Has this growth in productivity improved people's food security and household income?
2. How many kilometers of county roads have been constructed or repaired? Has this improved accessibility to areas that had poor road network before?
3. How many people now have better access to quality health care compared to 2012? Has the average distances to nearest health facilities reduced?
4. Has school enrollment in ECD improved? By how many children? What's the rate of their transition to Standard one?
5. How many people now have better access to clean drinking water since the county govt came to power?
6. Has the poverty rate reduced? Do people now afford adequate meals and general decent living conditions?
7. How many jobs, directly or indirectly has the county govt created?
8. Has there been any direct investments in various sectors of the county's economy, including new industries by investors?
9. Has the average income and purchasing power of Kilifians improved?
10. Has there been improvement in housing?
All these are development indicators that determine the direction we're heading to as Kilifi county. If these questions can't be answered, with tangible and measurable evidences tabled, then we should rethink about the general performance of the county leadership.