Sector consultancy
Thirteen years into devolution, the unfinished business is institutional: functions still held nationally, county systems that fall short of the law, and a public participation framework the courts have long asked Parliament to enact. Policy Oracle has assessed devolution outcomes for the Ministry of Devolution and ASALs, Makueni and Machakos.
The policy environment
Chapter Eleven of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 created 47 county governments, and the Fourth Schedule divides functions between them and the national government. Counties hold agriculture, county health services, county transport, trade development, pre-primary education, county planning and water and sanitation services, among others; the national government retains policy, standards, national referral facilities and capacity building for counties. The County Governments Act, 2012 sets out how counties plan, decentralise and involve citizens, while the Intergovernmental Relations Act, 2012 establishes the Summit, the Council of Governors and the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee, and governs how functions are transferred. The Public Finance Management Act, 2012 links every county plan to a budget, and the Urban Areas and Cities Act, 2011 extends the model to cities and municipalities.
The transfer is not complete. A December 2024 gazette notice directed that the remaining devolved functions move to counties, and the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee set July 2026 for full assumption, yet the 12th Summit in December 2025 still had to direct the Committee to finish sorting disputed functions and the National Treasury and the Commission on Revenue Allocation to verify the resources attached to them. The 9th Devolution Conference in Homa Bay in August 2025 made the same demand. Under KDSP II, the State Department for Devolution has also sought a firm to audit national and county laws inconsistent with the devolved system, building on the Committee's earlier gap analysis of 94 pieces of legislation.
Planning and participation carry equal weight. Counties are in the closing years of their third-generation County Integrated Development Plans, 2023-2027, prepared under section 108 of the County Governments Act, 2012, and will hand the next cycle to administrations elected in 2027. Public participation remains governed by scattered provisions in the Constitution, the County Governments Act and the Public Finance Management Act; the Public Participation Bill, 2025, passed by the National Assembly in August 2026, is now before the Senate. Performance is increasingly tied to money: the Second Kenya Devolution Support Program, approved by the World Bank in December 2023 and running to 2027, releases institutional and development grants to counties that meet assessed reforms in revenue, expenditure, human resources and pending bills.
Where the pressure is
Reviewed October 2026. Each pressure traces to a law, a policy or a ruling set out below.
The December 2025 Summit directed the IGRTC to finish sorting disputed functions and asked the National Treasury and the Commission on Revenue Allocation to verify the money attached to them as a basis for 2026/27 allocations. Counties need defensible costings of each function, and national agencies need clarity on which mandates, staff and assets will move.
The Public Participation Bill, 2025 passed the National Assembly on 12 August 2026 and was referred to the Senate's Standing Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights in September. In June 2026 the Prime Cabinet Secretary proposed confining public participation on bills, policies and programmes to Parliament, a position governance experts and civil society are expected to contest. Counties must design participation processes that will hold under the final law and under judicial review.
Level 2 grants released in July 2026 were tied to the third annual performance assessment, including reductions in pending bills and improved human resource records. With the programme closing in December 2027, counties that miss assessed indicators lose access to development grants in the remaining rounds.
In February 2026 the Court of Appeal reversed the High Court's 2024 finding that the National Government Constituencies Development Fund Act, 2015 was unconstitutional, holding that the fund finances national functions and that Senate input was not required. A notice of appeal to the Supreme Court has been filed, keeping the line between national and county service delivery in contention.
The Summit resolved that all pending intergovernmental sector forums be operational by January 2026 and that the Intergovernmental Relations (Amendment) Bill, 2024 be fast-tracked. Where forums are weak, disputes over health, agriculture and roads are settled by directive or litigation rather than negotiation.
With the 2023-2027 plans in their closing phase, county executives face reviews, unfinished flagship projects and handover obligations ahead of the 2027 general election. Evidence on what the plans delivered will shape both the transition and the next planning cycle.
Laws, plans and institutions
The Acts and regulations that create obligations, the policies and programmes that set direction, and the institutions that hold the mandate.
Who does what
How the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 divides the sector between the national government and the 47 county governments.
What we offer
Our practices combine to answer the questions this sector raises. Every assignment is scoped to the institution.
We measure what devolution has changed in service access, local economies and public spending, using baselines, comparison areas and county administrative data. This is the method behind our national economic analysis of devolution outcomes for the Ministry of Devolution and ASALs (2023) and the sub-county economic development and devolution impact assessment for the County Government of Makueni (2022).
We review county structures, staffing and processes against the Fourth Schedule, the County Governments Act, 2012 and KDSP II performance criteria, and cost the functions due for transfer. Clients receive a clear account of which mandates are funded, which are duplicated and which reforms will meet assessed indicators.
We support reviews of the County Integrated Development Plans, 2023-2027, the preparation of sector plans and Annual Development Plans, and the indicator frameworks that link them to budgets. Each plan is built so that its targets can be tracked, verified and reported to the county assembly.
We design participation processes that meet the Constitution, the County Governments Act, 2012 and the Public Participation Bill, 2025 as it proceeds, from notice and access to information to feedback on how views were used. The result is a documented process that withstands scrutiny from oversight bodies and the courts.
We analyse how functions, finance and accountability move between the national and county governments under the Intergovernmental Relations Act, 2012, including sector forum performance and disputed functions. Clients receive options for resolving disputes, sequencing transfers and aligning budgets with mandates.
Our work in this sector
| Year | Client | Engagement | Practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Consortium of County Governments | County Service Efficiency and Cost-Benefit Analysis | Public Finance / CBA |
| 2023 | Ministry of Devolution and ASALs | National Economic Analysis of Devolution Outcomes | Devolution Economics |
| 2022 | County Government of Makueni | Sub-County Economic Development and Devolution Impact Assessment | Devolution Economics |
| 2021 | Machakos County Government | County Fiscal Devolution Review and Revenue Mobilisation Strategy | Public Finance |
Key references
Policy environment reviewed October 2026. Laws, regulations and programmes change; consult the official text before relying on any summary here.
Devolution and County Governance
Tell us what you need to decide and by when. We will set it against the law, policy and budget realities of the sector and propose the work.