Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Fresh mandate for PCs, DCs and DOs

By MUTINDA MWANZIA

The State will run a renamed administrative system with fresh mandate, through the current provincial administrators parallel to the upcoming county governments.

This is because contrary to conflicting pronouncements by Government functionaries, the State insists the new Constitution demands that, "The system commonly known as Provincial Administration be restructured to accord and respect the devolved system of government."

Documents given to The Standard by Internal Security and Provincial Administration Minister, George Saitoti, pitches its case on the argument that, "restructuring does not in any way imply scrapping or dissolving the Provincial Administration".


State chooses restructuring rather than scrapping the provincial administration and gives new job specifications.
That the Government is after all not going to dismantle the old colonial relic blamed for most of Kenya’s governance woes may spark fresh debate on the admissibility of its argument.

Breaching the law

There are also the complaints by MPs that the Executive is breaching the new law by implementing the new Constitution through fresh hiring and reassignment of public servants before the setting up of the nine-member Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution.

The mandate of this commission is to, ‘monitor, facilitate, and oversee the development of legislation and administrative procedures required to implement this Constitution".

Its other key role is to, "ensure that the letter and spirit of this Constitution is respected".

The news of retention and reassignment of the 10,000 members of the Provincial Administration, who have expressed fears of possible demotions and even joblessness, must be good news to PCs, DCs, DOs, chiefs, and their assistants. This is because tasks assigned PCs and DCs would be implemented at grassroots by the lower echelon of the chain.

Prof Saitoti showed The Standard a draft document containing some of the envisaged roles for the administrators in the new system of government. They include harmonisation of central government policies and functions at field level with those of the county governments.

The administrators will also retain co-ordination of national security and will be engaged in conflict resolution and management. They will spearhead security and disaster responses in and across clusters of counties.

The administrators will help the Government identify persons for registration before issuance of ID cards, and birth certificates.

Their roles will also include facilitation of inter-district and inter-county co-operation and collaboration on security and development issues. The minister said Article 6(2) of the new Constitution provides for two distinct but inter-dependent levels of government whose functions are enumerated in the Fourth Schedule, which maps out distribution of functions between national and county governments.

Article 6 (2) says: "The governments at national and county levels are distinct and interdependent and shall conduct their mutual relations on the basis of consultation and co-operation."

Saitoti said most of the core functions of the Provincial Administration would be performed by the system of administration that comes out of the restructuring.

status quo

The officials also could be posted to counties to represent the central government. But the plans to retain the Provincial Administration have been rejected by the civil society, which sees it as an attempt to maintain the status quo despite the provisions of the new Constitution.

 

Also allaying the fears of the administrators was Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia, who assured them they would remain as representatives and co-ordinators central government functions in their jurisdictions. Kimemia told The Standard the intended restructuring of the Provincial Administration would focus on service delivery at the 47 counties following the replacement of the eight provinces.

Saitoti and the PS spoke to The Standard after a meeting with a select team of PCs and DCs tasked with guiding the transformation of the Provincial Administration.

The team is supposed to initiate consultations among staff and other stakeholders on the restructuring.

Among the proposals is to give PCs responsibilities for a cluster of counties. DCs will also be in-charge of a cluster of districts in the counties. Sources at the meeting at the Office of the President, Harambee House, said the participants agreed there was need to adequately inform the public of the expected changes on the role of the Provincial Administration.

The task force also insisted there was need for the Provincial Administration to mount an aggressive civic education exercise on what is expected of the new laws.

The team includes the current eight PCs —Francis Mutie (Nyanza), Kiplimo Rugut (Central), Njoroge Ndirangu (Nairobi), Osman Warfa (Rift Valley), Claire Omollo (Eastern), Ernest Munyi (Coast), James ole Serian (North Eastern), and Samuel Kilele (Western).

Sources said the task force that will re-designate the administrators consists of four PCs, several regional commissioners, and DCs. Kimemia, the Secretary for Provincial Administration, Victor Okioma, and his Internal Security counterpart, Mutea Iringo, are also members of the task force.

lose jobs

The Provincial Administration has always been a target of those who have demanded reforms over the last two decades. During the recent referendum campaigns, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who led the ‘Yes’ side, assured the officials they would not lose their jobs.

The ‘No’ side, however, said the provincial administrators would go. Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo on August 1 described it thus: "It is only a fool who prepares his sacking letter and signs it."

Over the last week, there was confusion among the administrators following contradictory statement from senior Government officials.

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