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There has been a constant war between the national government and counties over the roles assigned to the two bureaucracies.

The major concern is that despite clear delimitation of duties under devolution, the national government tends to overreach itself by clinging to those responsibilities that attract immense resources with corruption as the primary motive.

For instance, it remains unclear why the national government continues to domicile agencies that deal with rural roads while the function is devolved.

Governors have pointed out that the functions assigned to the Kenya Rural Roads Authority ((KeRRA) are devolved but the national government continues to execute the responsibility.

According to the Kenya Roads Act 2007, KeRRA is a State corporation established with the responsibility of managing, developing, rehabilitating and maintaining rural roads.

Experts have argued that the relevant law should be reviewed to align with devolution but there is reluctance to do so.

President William Ruto last month announced that his administration would complete the transfer of all devolved functions to county governments without delay. He said the transfer of certain national government functions to county governments will be published in the official government gazette on December 20.

He also noted that consultations were underway to ensure that the remaining devolved functions were all transferred, indicating that there will be extensive consultations between the two levels of governments under the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee on roles that are yet to be devolved.

The major causalities of this juvenile tag-of war remain citizens who require services from the two levels of government.

The latest tussle involves the issuing of bursaries.

Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakan’go stirred the hornet’s nest when she declared that the issuing of bursaries to students in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions was solely the role of the national government as per the Constitution. For county governments to issue bursaries, she said, they must first enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the national government.

Thousands of Kenyan children rely on bursaries from counties for their education. That is why we demand clarity on the issue and ensure children are not locked out of school.