New law: Outrage over Govt devolution plan

Kenya politicians have expressed outrage at plans by the government to restructure the provincial administration and re-introduce paramount chiefs.

Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang and MPs under the auspices of Parliamentary Caucus for Reforms termed the plans to restructure the provincial administration as unconstitutional and vowed to oppose them vigorously.

“We must be bold enough and tell our PCs, DCs and chiefs to pack and go. If there is one thing this Constitution is grounded on, it is on dismantling the provincial administration,” said Mr Kajwang at his Nyayo House offices Friday.

Separately, at a press conference at Parliament Buildings, the MPs led by Boni Khalwale, Charles Kilonzo, Nkoidila Ole Lankas, Yusuf Chanzu and Dan Mwazo also accused Internal Security minister George Saitoti and his Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia of trying to sneak the provincial administration "through the backdoor".

“The Executive must accept that the provincial administration is gone. No Kenyan is ready to fund offices which are not constitutional, least of all that of paramount chiefs,” said Dr Khalwale.

They were reacting to plans by the government to restructure the provincial administration and fit them into the devolved government.

The team working on the restructuring plan led by Mr Kimemia wants to reintroduce paramount chiefs and appoint more regional commissioners to coordinate the functions and policies of the National Government in each of the 47 counties.

The paramount chiefs will be given more responsibilities and paid better while the provincial administration will be retained and in some cases expanded. Six PCs and 22 regional commissioners will be sent to the 47 counties, Mr Kimemia said.

Mr Kajwang said Kenyans had loudly spoken against the retention of the provincial administration  when giving their views to the Committee of Experts (CoE) and would not allow the Internal Security Ministry to sneak it back.

“The whole spirit of devolved government was because Kenyans hated the provincial administration. The people felt oppressed by the central government through the provincial administration,” he said.

Mr Chanzu accused the government of wasting taxpayers’ money on seminars to train PCs, DCs and chiefs on their new roles while fully aware that the new Constitution does not recognise the provincial administration.

A detailed scheme of how things will look is expected to be released next week by the Office of the President. A team at OP has been working on the new structure.

Under this arrangement, PCs are to coordinate a cluster of counties to be classified as zones, or given desk jobs in Nairobi.

Regional Commissioners will on the other hand be renamed county coordinators and re-deployed to oversee the operations of the National Government in a number of counties lumped together bearing common features.

The Committee of Experts (CoE), which wrote the Constitution, appeared uncomfortable with the wholesale retention or expansion of the old system and warned that the restructured administration must keep off the day-to-day running of counties.