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Abstract
Successful constitutional processes and institutional reforms require huge economic, legal, human, and political resources. However, Kenya's new constitutional dispensation, seen as the solution to poor governance, unfavorable economic policies, imprudent natural resource management, and rising incidences of poverty, was spearheaded without a costing matrix. As a result, there has been increased financial pressure, including higher taxation and external borrowing to finance a bulging and unplanned wage bill, coupled with the misuse of public funds by newly elected state officers to offices that did not exist before.
The success of Kenya's new devolved system will only be guaranteed if its actual and real costs are clearly established through verifiable data and parameters. The country's financial system is bleeding, and the government is addressing its deficit by the simplistic adjustment of an increased tax burden. The private sector is shrinking, and unemployment is increasing. This will jeopardize the realization of the bill of rights as set out by the 2010 constitution.
This research aims at analyzing the cost of implementing the new governance framework, as set out in the 2010 constitution of Kenya, taking into consideration all additional and collateral costs and its impact on the country's revenue generation and expenditure patterns. This has been done using estimates and current expenditures obtained from official budget Policy Statements and budget review and Outlook Papers published by the national Treasury, as well as payment structures provided by the Salaries and remuneration commission.
The results show a remarkable increase in operating costs, with salaries of new offices alone totaling KSh 194,886,910 against a KSh 521,610,000 national wage bill. county governments are already operating at a deficit of KSh 27,915,051, with recurrent expenditure outweighing development expenditure. institutional reforms, such as the ones carried out in the Judiciary, have resulted in an actual increased expenditure by 26.2 percent, 89.7 percent, and 63.8 percent in the 2010/11, 2011/12, and 2012/13 financial years, respectively.
Even though Kenya is considered a regional economic giant with vast natural resources, the country needs to rethink revenue generation avenues and regard for basic principles of financial thriftiness by state officials. development expenditure has reduced drastically in Kenya. The blame is being placed on the process of implementation of the 2010 constitution.
Background
The centralized system...