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The SPECIAL REPORT TRANSITION TO DEVOLVED Enhancing governance for all GOVERNMENT Link — Pages 16 - 17 APRIL 2013 Issue No. 100 Kshs 40/= Weak counties need time to run effectively Kenya transits to By HENRY OWINO AS Kenyans embrace the devolved system of government, fears abound as to what measures have been put in place to ensure weak counties run effectively. While it is apparent that devolution has devolved Govt been designed to transfer decision-making and By THE LINK TEAM resources from the centre to the grassroot, it is indisputable that the counties are not equal in T is all systems go as the country adopts terms of capacity and thus cannot be expected a devolved system of government with to grow at the same pace. Ione national government and forty sev- However, this is not the first time Kenya is en county governments. implementing a devolved system of govern- The new system is anchored in the Consti- ment. At independence, the same system was tution. Article 6 (2) of the Constitution states adopted with seven autonomous regional gov- that the two levels of government are distinct ernments, each with the Executive, a Legisla- and interdependent and that they shall conduct tive Assembly in the form of regional assem- their mutual functions on the basis of coordina- blies and an independent public service. tion and cooperation. For example; the city of Nairobi was an The national government on the one hand extra-provincial region headed by an elected is to focus mainly on policy formulation while Mayor of the City Council. However, this sys- the county governments are to largely dwell on tem was abandoned almost immediately by the policy implementation. KANU government which preferred a highly The Constitution has also spelt out re- centralized system. sources to be used by each of the governments Today the country has reverted to this form in discharging their respective functions. The of government but this time under multiparty Constitution further envisages the transfer of system of government thanks to the new con- some of the functions currently performed by stitution. the national government to the County govern- Under the Constitution, there are two lev- ments. Also to be transferred are assets and li- els of governments created on an equal basis. abilities, human resources, pension, staff, ben- These are the County and National govern- efits of employees of the government and the ments. The Constitution further divides Kenya local authorities and public records. into 47 counties with clearly defined geograph- The Transition to Devolved Governments ical boundaries. The boundaries of each of the Act (see special report on Page 16) provides a county have been drawn by the Independent framework for a coordinated transition to de- Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) volved governments pursuant to section 15 of as provided for by the Constitution. the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution. Despite the Constitution creating the two And as we transit to cooperative and con- levels of government and 47 counties, Kenya sultative devolved government under the ar- is still a unitary state. Although the two levels ticle 189 of the Constitution, it is highly an- are distinct, they are required to respect each ticipated that the political system which has other and work in harmony. It therefore means for years entrenched nepotism, cronyism and that the relationship between the two must led to an adversarial governance style is set to be consultative and cooperative. Neither the change. County nor the National Government is senior or superior to the other. Transition Authority The two governments and institutions es- The Transition Authority must thus entrench tablished under them are required by the Con- these very attributes in its working style, even stitution to facilitate public participation. The as it navigates politically explosive issues. two levels have democratically elected repre- Nyeri County Governor Nderitu Gachagua takes the oath of office in a ceremony The Authority established in late June 2012, sentatives and autonomous political authority. held at the Nyeri Kamukunji grounds. Right is Nyeri High Court Judge Justice has been slow on the uptake, but has recently The elected representatives include the sena- James Wakiaga. Photo/Joseph Mukubwa begun to register a presence. It is required to tors, National Assembly members, the Presi- resolve many devolution landmines, a number dent, the Governors and County Assembly ‘The Act seeks to retain discretional presidential powers contrary of which were deferred by the Committee of to the Constitution which takes a functional approach’. 8 Turn to Page 2 Col. 1 8 Turn to Page 2, Col. 1 ON OTHER PAGES Government urged to UNIDO establishes food- Coast Province gets Managerial skills equip rural schools processing plants in two fully fledged critical in health with facilities —Pg. 7 Western Kenya —Pg. 12 universities —Pg. 21 sector —Pg. 27 The Link, April 2013 2 GOVERNANCE From page 1 representatives in each of the forty- Weak counties need time to run effectively seven counties. The two levels of governments He pointed out that most provin- have a clear mandate to provide a cial hospitals are now changing the range of significant services as out- status of their facilities to be referral lined in the Fourth Schedule of the hospitals. This is because all referral Constitution. Both governments can health facilities would be under the be taken to court or take others to national government funding and court. The two governments have not county. powers to control own budget and Another area of contention is accounts and the ability to make and which schools shall be manned at the enforce local legislation. Citizens county level and those that would access to available resources at ei- be under national government. It is ther level is guaranteed. however clear that all early child- The ambitious county govern- hood education (ECD) schools will ments therefore seek to ensure that under the county government. development and resources are not According to Kinuthia, teething skewed in favour of any regions. problems are expected on how the In some regions, resources have new structure will work but with been under-utilized and thus not time, this issue will be resolved. He beneficial to the residents. It is thus outlined three types of counties; Ru- expected that the new leaders will fo- ral Counties, Urban and City Coun- cus on reviving collapsed industries ties and Counties with both rural and such as KICOMI in Kisumu County, urban characteristics. For example, Rivatex East Africa Limited in El- the Urban Areas and Cities Act, doret, Uasin Gishu County among provides for categories of Cities, others. The industries are expected Municipalities and Towns within a to generate income for the counties. County. Kinuthia Wa Mwangi, chairman “We expect by 2017 at least of Transition Authority says that three-quarters of the counties shall most counties will take three to five have achieved its goals and fully op- years to become fully operational. erational with much assistance from He adds that transition in most cases Municipal Council of Mombasa national government” Kinuthia as- takes time before it finally matures serted. to the expected threshold. stitution has entrenched devolution developed due to poor leadership. own challenges; infrastructure, re- With the passage of the Urban “Not all counties will develop which will ensure that resources are “Unlike Nairobi and Central prov- sources availability, circulation of Areas and Cities Act, the existing lo- and grow at the same pace. You must distributed equally across the re- ince, counties in such regions will funds, leadership and management cal authorities cease to exist. So there understand that some regions were gions,” Kinuthia said. have to be assisted to bring them skills,” He clarified. Some will de- will be no city, municipal, county or ignored by the previous regimes for He notes that some regions in at par with the rest of the country,” velop faster than others and slowly town council clerks. There will also a long time due to single party dic- Coast, North Eastern, Nyanza, and Kinuthia suggested. depending on the challenges and pri- be no Councilors but County Ward tatorship. I am happy that the Con- Eastern provinces are still under- “Each county is faced with its orities at stake,” Kinuthia reiterated. Representatives. Kenya transists to devolved system of government From page 1 fends the Constitution on at least the approach that allows it to sidestep the formation on the status of implemen- percentages that will be useful cri- following grounds. larger issue of redeployment of gov- tation of the moratorium. It has not teria in determining the number of Experts and the Task Force on De- The National Government Co- ernment staff. provided mechanism through which offices to be established or abolished volved Government (TDG) due to ordination Act fails to clarify which Unlike the Committee of Experts citizens can engage in the process. or the diversity of Kenya’s commu- their explosiveness. functions the national government and the Task Force on Devolved An asset stripping is rumoured to nities in appointments. In order to The authority has been keen on administration shall coordinate be- Government before it, the Authority be in high gear. Media reports indi- ensure harmony and standardization engaging the central government to low the county level. There is am- has launched headlong into its tran- cate that some local authorities plan at both levels of government, these embrace change and to disarm its biguity on functions; the Act seeks sition activities without providing a to sell off assets to pay off debts to norms and standards will as much as natural resistance through negotiated to retain discretional presidential clear roadmap of how these will feed statutory institutions such as the possible be aligned to the applicable compromise.
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