By Dida Fayo
- Kiambu County boosted its Own-Source Revenue to KSh 5.4 billion in 2025 through technology, political commitment, and civic education
- Ethiopia’s $5 billion GERD, fully self-funded, shows Kenyan counties the power of local financing
- Kenyan counties must adopt corruption-free OSR strategies to drive sustainable development, inspired by Ethiopia’s GERD model
Few days ago, I gave deep insights on the concept of OSR (Own-Source Revenue), as a golden window of opportunity, for the sustainable development & optimal financial impact in Kenya's counties.
I analyzed the case of how Kiambu County has perfected this art, collecting KSh 3.6 billion in FY 2022/2023, later KSh 4.6 billion in FY2023/2024 (the highest ever since devolution) and finally KSh. 5.4 billion for half of 2025.
This was made possible by a combination of political commitment, systems strengthening, sealing leakages via technology and a sheer sense of citizen ownership, embedded through robust civic education.
Back to GERD, Ethiopia constructed this dam, the biggest hydroelectric power project in Africa, measuring 143 metres in height against 2km. It cost a whopping USD 5 billion and was referred to as 100% Ethiopia-financed.
When the GERD idea was first conceptualized in 1960 by US researchers, it was quickly shelved due to grand financial need to execute it.
Later, on the grounds of "not financing water projects with unresolved transboundary disputes", the heaviest IFIs (International Financing Institutions), World Bank, African Development Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and even individual countries like China and others, all steered away from supporting the project.
Separately, the project has seen unprecedented local, regional and global ridicule, with Egypt (Africa's strongest military), severally threatening to blow up the GERD, even with Donald Trump's approval.
The GERD idea drew more enemies by the day, but Ethiopia stood undeterred, officially becoming an epicenter for geopolitical contestations.
With little hope and no external funding alternatives in sight, the Ethiopian Federal Government looked inwards by faith, and ran a massive "patriotism-test campaign", a defining make-or-break strategy for the project.
They deployed self self-financing model, citizen contributions, floated Government bonds, national pension funds investment from local banks and even through salary reductions - to raise USD 5B, approx. Kes. 650 Billion.
This is a ⅓rd of Ethiopia's entire FY2025/2026 national budget of USD 15 billion, as was approved by the Ethiopian Council of Ministers.
In summary, for Devolution to stand on its feet and achieve the intended objectives, there has to be a well-knit, well-owned, well-guarded and well-executed strategy and spirit of "self-financing", within a robust OSR expansion framework.
In fact, after USAID SWO & current global aid funding shrink, the spirit of locally-led and owned financing of projects is the new norm.
As such, Counties must devise an intentional and corruption-free roadmap to build bigger OSR financial reservoirs, which will spur mega development at lthe ocal level, topping up conventional Exchequer receipts.
No one will shape the future for you, it's you to do it for your people, like Ethiopia did it by financing it themselves.
Dida Fayo is the Director of Programs, Planning & Implementation at Northern Rangelands Trust, and a PhD candidate.