State seeks to retain DCs under new laws

The government has drafted laws that seek to retain the Provincial Administration running parallel to the structures established under county governments.

A draft of The National Administration and Coordination Bill is at the Attorney-General’s chambers, ready to be taken to the cabinet for consideration.

Curiously, neither the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) nor the Kenya Law Reform Commission (KLRC) — two key organs in the drafting and refining of Bills — was involved in writing or evaluating the proposed law.

Contacted by the Nation on Tuesday, CIC chairman Charles Nyachae said he had not seen the Bill: “As a commission, we have not seen the draft Bill. We have not even heard of it. Maybe it is yet to reach us from the office of the Attorney-General.”

Three Law Reform Commission officials said they were not involved in preparing the Bill.

“As a law reform commission and as a constitutionally recognised organ in drafting of laws, we were not involved but we are aware of such a Bill,” said one of the officials, who cannot be quoted because he is not allowed to speak on behalf of the Commission.

The Nation obtained a copy of the Bill, which is said to have been crafted by officials from the Office of the President who have been insisting that the provincial administrators will be retained under the new constitution.

A source at the OP said that the Bill was an outcome of a committee which went around the country to collect views of stakeholders on how the Provincial Administration should be restructured.

Law and security experts were then brought in to draft the Bill which “ was to be distributed to the Nyachae team and others after our work is over.”

It states that the “Bill is for an Act of Parliament to give effect to Section 17 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution; to establish an institutional framework for the national administration; to coordinate service delivery by the national government, State departments and organs; and to provide for responsibilities, functions, and powers of administrative officers and for connected purposes.”

Section 17 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitutions allow the government to restructure the provincial administration to fit in the devolved units without negating the spirit of decentralisation.

The Bill starts by stating that it seeks to facilitate the exercise of authority of the President of the national government as provided for in Article 131 of the Constitution.

It proposes to divide the country into administrative units under officers reporting to the Cabinet Secretary (minister) responsible for national administration.

The county forms one such unit administered by a county commissioner, while parliamentary constituencies is another unit, headed by a district commissioner.

The proposed law gives the cabinet secretary powers to name other administrative units and post administrators.

This means that we could have district officers and chiefs retained as agents of the central government despite a new dispensation emphasising devolved government.

Under the County Governments Bill, while the governor is directly elected by voters on the elections day, the sub-county administrator and the county ward administrator are appointed by the county public service team led by the governor.

The National Administration Bill proposes to establishes the National Government Services Delivery Committee at the county and district level to coordinate government services.

that the county commissioners and district commissioners will coordinate national security, national government functions and delivery of services, disaster management and emergency response, dissemination and implementation of government policies, dispute resolution and identification of persons for registration among others.

The Bill establishes the National Government Services Delivery Committee at the county and district level to coordinate government services. At the county level, it is chaired by the county commissioner while the district commissioner heads the one at the district level.

They will be appointed by the Public Service Commission.