Bold plan to lock out corrupt civic bosses

A plan to end punch-ups in local authorities and rid them of corruption has been proposed.

Under the plan, the number of councils will be slashed, the power to elect mayors and council chairpersons taken away from councillors and illiterate civic bosses locked out of leadership.

The bold plan is contained in a new law to be taken to Parliament when MPs return from holiday in March.

Elected by voters

The proposed law wants mayors and council chairpersons elected directly by voters in elections supervised by the electoral commission to serve five-year terms. This, it is expected, will end the seasonal drama of councillors pummelling each other for positions and being locked up in hideouts to prevent them from being bought by rival groups.

Untenable local authorities, which cannot afford to pay their own way, will be scrapped and mayors will be required to have a good education and some experience in management. Once elected, mayors for the first time will have real power and will be the chief executive officers of their authorities.

In all, it is hoped that the new law will improve service, cut corruption and make local authorities more democratic. The Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2009 is intended to get rid of the Local Authority Act. The law has been blamed for the chaotic local government and for the loopholes used to plunder public resources.

Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, the Local Government minister said: “The object of this Bill is bring in new provisions to introduce reforms geared towards the democratisation of local authorities and enhancing the participation of residents of the local authority in the planning, development and management of local authorities.”

The Bill was approved by Cabinet last year and is set to be tabled in Parliament when MPs return in March. Mr Mudavadi asked Kenyans to study and debate the proposed law, saying, the Bill will put in place viable authorities that will serve them well.

Directly elected

Under the changes, mayors and council chairpersons, who are currently elected by councillors every two years, will be directly elected for a five-year term. This, the minister said, would “introduce stability in local authorities”. “We no longer want games of councillors being hidden and manipulated to elect people who cannot serve the public,” Mr Mudavadi said.

The Bill sets ambitious education standards by requiring councillors aspiring to either become mayors, deputy mayors or chairpersons to have university degree. To lead a metropolis, proven work experience — at management level — of not less than 10 years, will be required. While mayors will serve for one term, deputy mayors are eligible for re-election.

Local authority elections will be conducted by the Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya. The elected mayors and chairpersons have been given wide-ranging powers currently exercised by town clerks. They will be chief executive officers of the councils, direct the day-to-day activities of the authorities and present the council’s budgets.

Job description

“We are bringing more clarity to the councils by giving mayors and county council chairpersons their job description so that they can no longer hide behind chief officers,” said Mr Mudavadi. All chief council officers, who will be appointed by the Head of Civil Service, will serve under the civic leaders. They will include the clerk, the treasurer, chief engineer, and directors of planning, health, medical services and legal affairs.

Councillors will be required to have attained Form Four level of education and not to have been convicted of any offence. The number of nominated councillors has been drastically reduced from one-third of the elected councillors to one-sixth.

In a step likely to be hotly contested by the public and the councillors, the Bill proposes to merge some councils which are not economically viable. It outlines criteria that will be used to create county councils, municipalities, city councils and metropolitan councils. This means that the current criteria of town councils will be scrapped after 2012.

The four levels will be determined by the amount of revenue they collect, the area size, the infrastructure and the potential for development. For instance, for a municipal council to be elevated to city status, it must have notable features of either historical, national or international importance.

And for a city council to achieve metropolitan status, it must have more than one satellite town deriving services from it. “The amalgamation or merger will be determined by the viability of local authorities. “The fragmentation of local authorities made them weak and a drain to the tax payer’s resources. We want to have viable, larger stable councils,” the DPM said.

The minister will confer the status to any council on the advice of the Local Authorities Advisory Commission whose establishment is provided for by the Bill. The Advisory Commission’s job will be to advise the Local Government minister on the creation or dissolution, merger, and classification of councils.

The Bill, however, dashes the hopes of councillors’ salaries being paid directly by the government. The Association of Local Government Authorities of Kenya (Algak) had been pushing for the salaries to come from the Consolidated Fund.