Minister: Councils to share services in new Bill

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Nairobi Metropolitan Development minister Njeru Githae that the Metropolitan Areas Bill will not merge any political or administrative areas but will instead create mechanism that will see enhanced service sharing June 14, 2011. FILE

By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Tuesday, June 14 2011 at 14:50

A new Bill is proposing the sharing of services among local authorities to enhance delivery without scrapping the councils.

Nairobi Metropolitan minister Njeru Githae said Tuesday that the Metropolitan Areas Bill will not merge any political or administrative areas but will instead create mechanism that will see enhanced service sharing.

“This is a Bill that should have been enacted 20 years ago to avoid some of the problems that have faced us. For example the nearest fire service to Mlolongo is at JKIA but in case of a fire, the engines have to come all the way from Machakos,” said Mr Githae.

He added that this would be different if the services of various local authorities that fall within the same metropolitan area can be shared when need be.

He also said that the new law will see the establishment of five authorities dealing with various issues in the each metropolitan area.

The five will include Economic Development and Investment Authority, Transport Authority, Water and Waste Management Authority, Disaster and Emergency Services Authority and Spatial Planning Authority.

Each authority shall have a board of directors consisting of at least three and not more than seven members. Each Governor whose area is in the in the metropolitan area will be required to appoint one person to serve in the board of directors.

Each board will have a representative from the private sector and one from civil society. The authorities will be responsible for coordinating and monitoring governmental and private activities in provision of services as well as collect and charge fees.

The Bill, which is headed to cabinet after stakeholder consultation, will see establishment of different metropolitan areas bringing together a number of counties.

Each area will have will have a Metropolitan Advisory Council made up of Governors of County governments in the area and permanent secretaries from the relevant ministries.

“The Metropolitan Advisory Council shall, within three months after the establishment of a Metropolitan Area, appoint a committee to oversee the establishment Metropolitan Authorities and the smooth transfer of functions from existing agencies to the Metropolitan Authorities,” the proposed Bill provides.