Senators to table Transition Authority term extension Bill

Senate Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee Chairman Amos Wako at a past event. The committee has sponsored a Bill for extension of the Transition Authority term by three years. FILE PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The TA has been pushing for more time, fearing that it could be forced to fold up when its time ends in March.

Senators want a change to the Constitution to extend the term of the Transition Authority (TA) by three years against the wishes of the government, which wants only one more year for the body.

Through the 2016 Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill that was published this week, the senators say the authority has not been able to complete its work over the last three years and requires another 36 months to do so.

The Bill is sponsored by the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee, chaired by Busia Senator Amos Wako, and is set for tabling when the House resumes sitting in two weeks.

The TA’s term ends in March, as indicated in the Constitution, but will get more time if the proposed law is passed.

The Constitution mandated the authority to oversee the full transition to the devolved system of governance for three years beginning after the last general election.

“The purpose of this amendment is therefore to enable the completion of the pending transition work. This is in view of the fact that the transition period contemplated in Section 15 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution is set to lapse on March 4, 2016 yet there are critical elements of transfer of functions which are still outstanding and may not be completed by that date,” says the Bill.

A constitutional amendment will require the support of at least 45 senators out of the 67 during the second and third reading. When it is taken to the National Assembly, it must be passed by at least 233 members in both stages.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro has already expressed support for the proposed extension of the authority’s term.

“Three years is a very short time. We have a mentality that after they have done their part we should let them go but look at what is remaining? There is so much to be done. There is no point creating a new institution. Let us give this one an additional period so they finish the job because they have the institutional memory,” said Mr Ethuro when he met the World Bank's Kenya Director Diariétou Gaye on Wednesday.

The TA has been pushing for more time, fearing that it could be forced to fold up when its time ends in March.

Earlier this month, new Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri indicated that the government was willing to give the body one more year.

Governors have already said they do not want the TA’s term to be extended, saying its role could be performed by the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee, chaired by former PS Karega Mutahi.

Mr Wako said senators expected the Bill to get support from both Houses, saying there was still a lot of pending work that needed to be dealt with.

“We need to extend the life of TA. We hope it will get the support of members of the National Assembly. Even if they oppose it, we would have made our point that this body needs more time,” said Mr Wako.

The senators said some of the unfinished work included the auditing of assets and liabilities of the defunct local authorities and the smooth transfer of the seconded national government staff to the counties.

“These include the development of a framework to unbundle the concurrent functions, transfer of seconded staff from the national to county governments, auditing of all the assets and liabilities of the defunct local authorities and the preparation and validation of an inventory of existing assets and liabilities of national government and other public entities,” said the proposed law.