Human rights activist Hussein Khalid has proposed radical changes in the structure of the devolved government units, calling for the dissolution of the 47 counties in favour of 8 regional blocs.

Speaking during the ninth devolution conference in Homa Bay on Thursday, August 14, 2025, Khalid indicated that the devolved units had failed to deliver tangible development to the public.

Khalid equally observed that the wage bill created by the devolved units was unsustainable, noting that the reduction would free resources to be channeled towards development and service delivery.

Devolution structure

“We feel that a time has come for us to reconsider the devolution structure that we have in this country,” Khalid remarked.

“One very clear proposal that we are making is to reduce the number of devolved units. 47 is just too much; we need to reduce it by either halfing it at most or maybe having a minimum of eight so that we can have more resources dedicated to service delivery as opposed to paying 47 governors, 47 county assemblies; and that all those resources can be channeled to provide services to the public,” Khalid said.

He equally urged counties to embrace accountability, noting that civil society has stepped into the role of holding both the governments and the opposition accountable.

Accountability in counties

“County governments perceive the civil society as an enemy, yet all we do is play our role. As the civil society, NGOs, CBOs, and social justice centres, we have a responsibility to hold those in power accountable,” Khalid said.

“That responsibility has even become more pronounced, especially when traditional institutions that are meant to support in holding leaders accountable are not doing that anymore.”

His proposals come exactly one year after comedian Eric Omondi proposed a similar move to reduce the number of devolved units, citing overrepresentation.

“Kenyans are extremely and overwhelmingly overrepresented; a single Kenyan is represented by 16 persons doing almost the same job,” Eric said on August 20, 2024.

“We have officially launched the process to go to a referendum to reduce the number of counties from 47 to 8 and elected officials we are going to abolish nominated members of parliament (MPs, MCAs and Senators), we are going to abolish the senate, we are going to abolish the position of women representative,” he said.

“We are going around the country collecting signatures. All we need is a million signatures, which should take us less than two weeks.”