Monday, September 13, 2010

Confusion deepens over fate of provincial administration

By Beauttah Omanga

Plans to retain the Provincial Administration, and give it an expanded role continues to draw sharp criticism with a section of the Grand Coalition government saying they will oppose it at the Cabinet level.

Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi led ODM ministers in saying that the provincial administrators have no role in the system of government outlined in the new Constitution.

Mudavadi spoke a day after Prime Minister Raila Odinga said that the Internal Security Ministry’s plan for the administrators was a mere proposal that would have to be passed by Cabinet and Parliament.

Last week, Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and PS Francis Kimemia said they planned to retain PCs, DCs, DOs and Chiefs, but with only a change of titles. They even said they would re-introduce paramount chiefs whose jobs were abolished in the 1980s.

The Constitution says the Provincial Administration should be restructured within five years, to conform to the devolved government.

Expectations were that the whole system would be abolished, but statements from Prof Saitoti and Mr Kimemia have created confusion.

It would be remembered that during the referendum campaigns, President Kibaki and Prime Minister assured the officials they would not lose their jobs after the new laws were passed.

In turn the administrators vigorously campaigned for the ‘Yes’ side during the referendum.

On Sunday, Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya said the Cabinet would reject any plan to retain the officials.

At the same time, the Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura revealed that a detailed fresh scheme of service for all members of the Provincial Administration will be made public this week.

The next six months

"It is clear that the new law says that we should reform the Provincial Administration within five years. We have decided that instead of waiting for five years, we can as well do it within the next six months, starting now," said Mr Muthaura in Meru.

When he spoke on the issue, Mudavadi said that if the officials are to be retained, they must be subordinate to the county governors.

"Kenyans want a new-look system, without the face of the Provincial Administration. We cannot start implementation by ignoring the new laws from the beginning," he noted.

The DPM said the law was clear that the administration should be restructured to fit in the new system at the counties. He described the proposals by the Saitoti to create districts based on regional clusters as illegal.

He said: "It is not possible to get roles for the administrators long before the counties start to operate."

On his part, Oparanya ruled out the possibility of retaining the administrators in the new government structures.

"The Provincial Administration stands abolished in the new constitution," he added.

The Butere MP further said the Cabinet would reject proposals to create posts for 23 regional commissioners despite it being mooted by a taskforce led by Internal Security PS.

He said there would be no need to have PCs or any official by any other title to represent the President at the county level, because the Head of State would be dealing with governors elected by the people.

He added: "The President will be co-ordinating with governors in managing affairs of the country. The Provincial Administration will have no role to play."

Truth about their future

Speaking at Buchenya Primary School in his Butere constituency, Oparanya faulted Saitoti for allegedly not telling the officers the truth about their future.

He said it would be wrong for Saitoti to allow PCs and a section of DCs to plan how reforms would be undertaken under the new Constitution.

He said an independent team should be tasked with planning how to restructure the Administration.

International Centre for Conflict and Policy’s Ndung’u Wainaina said a court action would be in order if the Government continued violating the new laws.

"Implementation should be put on hold until the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution is in place. The new law provides for court action in case of violation, and given that that is in the offing, we have no choice but to move to the Constitutional Court," he said.

—Additional reporting by Joel Okwayo

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