Outrage over Cabinet move on judges, chiefs

The government was on Friday accused of trying to water down the provisions on grassroots administration and vetting of judges.

Politicians, civil society groups and lawyers protested that the government was taking over the roles of the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution and the parliamentary Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee to introduce unpopular laws into the document.

The commission is the body that will oversee the implementation of the new Constitution once it is constituted while the parliamentary select committee will oversee its functions.

At the centre of the fresh storm are plans by the government to restructure the provincial administration and bring back paramount chiefs.

The Cabinet is also accused of ignoring the views of the legal fraternity and endorsing a weak Bill to vet judges and magistrates.

On Thursday, the Cabinet endorsed the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Bill for possible enactment to guide the re-hiring of judges and magistrates according to the new Constitution.

On the same day, Internal Security minister George Saitoti and permanent secretary Francis Kimemia announced plans to restructure the provincial administration to fit into the devolved government.

On Friday, 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 up and go. If there is one thing this Constitution is grounded on, it is on dismantling the provincial administration,” said Mr Kajwang’.

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 Prof Saitoti and Mr Kimemia of trying to sneak in 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.

The politicians spoke as civil society groups and lawyers protested that the Cabinet disregarded their views and endorsed a mutilated Bill for vetting of judges.

They accused the government of trying to hijack judicial reforms to suit its political interests by giving itself the role.

Arbitrary decision

The Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida-Kenya), the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the International Commission of Jurists, Kenya Private Sector Alliance and private sector group Creco vowed to lobby Parliament to reject the Bill.

LSK chairman Kenneth Akide said: “In an arbitrary decision, Cabinet deleted the provision proposing professional organisations nominate the persons who comprise the vetting board.”

Fida chairperson Naomi Wagereka said that the Cabinet decision was a sign that anti-reform forces had started fighting back, while Mr Kawive Wambua of Creco said the decision must be rescinded.

On his part, 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 in.

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.

Wasting taxpayers’ money

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 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 did not recognise the provincial administration.

“Kenyans voted to have two systems of governance, the National Government and the devolved government. If you retain PCs and DCs, you are creating a parallel and illegal governance structure,” said Dr Khalwale.

Former Nyakach MP Peter Odoyo also accused the Internal Security ministry of usurping the functions of the Constitutional Implementation Commission which is charged with implementing the new Constitution.

Renamed coordinators

“Let them wait for the Commission on Implementation of the new Constitution and put their proposals on the table instead of rushing to create entities which are not provided for in the new Constitution,” said Mr Odoyo.

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.