Fresh start for regions as ward chiefs prepare to take oath, elect speakers

The road to devolution starts on Friday with the swearing in of members of county assemblies in the country’s 47 counties.

Most of the county assemblies have taken over what used to be city, municipal or county council offices and debating chambers.

In Nairobi for instance, the 85 county representatives-elect will be sworn in from 10 am at the City Council chambers.

Normally, taking an oath of office would be their first activity before the representatives do any other thing in the chambers. Here, the representatives would be required to “solemnly affirm” that they shall diligently serve the people of Kenya. They will utter the following words:

Court order

“I shall diligently discharge my duties and perform my functions in the said office, to the best of my judgment; that I shall at all times, respect, uphold, preserve, protect and defend this Constitution of the Republic of Kenya;

“And that I shall do right to all manner of persons in accordance with the Constitution of Kenya and the laws and conventions of Parliament, that I shall do justice to all.”

They will take this oath before county assembly clerks who should have taken an oath earlier. Thereafter, they will be required to elect their speaker, the deputy speaker before the two are sworn in.

But the county assembly clerks will only be allowed to swear in the 1,450 elected county representatives after the High Court froze the swearing in of nominated county representatives until a case filed by the Gender Commission and the Kenya Association of the Physically Disabled is heard and determined.

The commission is seeking to reverse the list of nominees which it argues does not include the minorities and the vulnerable as is required by law.

On Thursday, the Transition Authority chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi told the Daily Nation that a programme is ready to help the new officials adapt to their new functions.

“We intend to commence the induction of these officials from April 1 to enable a smooth take-off of our devolved units,” he said in an interview in Nairobi.

“The induction is part of our assessment tools on the readiness of the counties.”

The county assembly mimics Parliament. The representatives will be debating issues affecting the respective counties under the guidance of the Speaker, deputy or any other person chosen by members in case the speaker or the deputy is absent.

Upon the swearing in of the governors next week, they will be required to address their respective county assemblies, in imitation of the national assembly where the president is supposed to give an opening address.

Mr Wamwangi said they have prepared the venues and the attendant facilities required for the governors and their juniors to work as soon as they are sworn in.

“We have developed modalities for assumption of office for governors and other requisite issues like oaths of office. The Chief Justice has also assigned judges and magistrates who will conduct the exercise,” he said.

Already, the authority said it is facilitating the opening of county finance accounts through which funds from the national government would be channelled.

“We have agreed on modalities for opening county accounts with the stakeholders and we are opening the accounts to get funds to them (governors) as soon as they assume office,” he said.

Treasury is expected to channel Sh9.8 billion to the counties for a start.

County assemblies, according to the County Governments Act are required to maintain close contact with the electorate and consult them on issues before discussion in the county assembly, present views and proposals of the county electorate and act as a link between the county governments and members of the public.