When devolution was first introduced, it carried the weight of a million dreams. It was supposed to be the mechanism through which the common mwananchi would finally enjoy the fruits of their taxes and see resources move from the high offices of Nairobi directly into their villages. But thirteen years later, the bitter truth has emerged: instead of devolving development, we have devolved something that is slowly becoming the real cancer of our time: corruption!
Corruption is the greatest evil we face in Baringo, and as a nation. It is a long-term cancer that eats away at the very foundations of our society, and the symptoms are no longer hidden—they are being seen in every stalled project and every empty dispensary. If we continue on this path, our county will eventually collapse under the weight of its own mismanagement.
The data from our ground survey paints a chilling picture of this “devolved corruption.” An alarming 37.1% of Baringo residents identify corruption and mismanagement of funds as the primary reason projects in our county have stalled. This isn’t just about missing money; it’s about a total breakdown in leadership where 73.5% of our people currently feel that the government does a poor or non-existent job of listening to their views before spending public funds.
This cancer affects every single sector of our lives:
- In Healthcare: While we receive billions, 45.6% of residents say local facilities completely lack medicines. The literal ceiling of corruption is falling on us—quite literally, as seen in reports of snakes falling from the roofs of dilapidated hospitals like Kimalel Health Centre, where theaters and equipment lie in “reckless abandonment”.
- In Agriculture: Corruption allows brokers to steal the sweat of our farmers. Instead of building the local processing factories that 43.8% of you are demanding, funds are diverted, leaving us to export our raw materials and import poverty.
- In Education: Our children suffer in stalled ECDE classrooms while parents are forced to pay the salaries of teachers that the county should be covering.
- In Infrastructure: While billions are earmarked for water, only 39% of our citizens have access to clean, potable water, and 31.2% are still waiting for basic grading of rural roads just to reach a market.
The greatest enemy we must face is not a tribe or a region—it is this systemic theft. We must come together as one Baringo to demand Radical Transparency. Our ground survey shows that 68.4% of you demand actionable proof that leadership is serious about ending this vice.
The Baringo Mpya vision is built on an open-book policy: posting every contract and budget on ward noticeboards and ensuring the fair distribution of jobs and bursaries so that “who you know” no longer determines your future.
We must fight this together. If we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Baringo.
Baringo Mpya. A New Baringo. A Clean Baringo.