Drama unfolds as Governors walk out of meeting in protest of powers being clipped.

[Kabaridi]

Mr Kabaridi, this is where we totally differ, a situation u conviniently reanalyse to suit the setting, the county govornors are crying foul.., not raila only ..the role of central govt was to collect tax, and finance strategic installations like the super highways that interlink counties or east africa.
The county government is solely responsible for county devt...sharing the national cake, dude i want my backyard to grow too.lol. That is a county govt; the constitution says any Kenyan can own land or property or otherwise develop in any part of this nation without discrimanation on basis of ethnicity, race or colour as long as he/she is a bonafide kenyan...even travelling withing Kenya is safe guarded by the same constitution. Yesterdays remarks by a guy i totally respect was out of line.
By the way county conmissioners are illegal this far.lol. Someone disobeyed court orders, why? U tell me.
And county govts should prevail, ad hate to blame anything and everything on Mt.Kenya mafia but at times they leave us with no choice...this is utter mutilation of the constitution.....nowhere are county govts proscribed as a threat to a unitary state....the constitution is clear on secession if any threat ever suffices the need of a referendum.
Reading all this, lets agree every region needs a piece of the national pie.lol.

At the moment mkuu, there is a lot of jostling for duties and roles as the TA and the head of Civil service continue transcending duties down to governenors. The misunderstanding obviously surrounds how and whois responsible for handling/distributions of the national cake at the county! lol! 'money as always the root prob!
There seems to be a misconception that devolution is being trampled upon by mandarins, but as envisaged by the outgoing CIC, there has to be 'effective' devolved system of governence, else we enter in a potential mess big time...
As envisaged by the CIC, creating effective governance needs to address the challenges of (graft) faced under a strong centralized government lest what witnessed since the past is transcended down at the counties. There needs to be proper responsibilties accorded, high levels of accountability... etc..
Indeed people were happy when a devolved sytem of governance was mentioned, but it is not going to be business as usual. ultimately there r pains of being in service for the people.

The role of County commissioners is as simple as only being the watchdog of the utilization of govt assets, civil education to the general public in regards to the new constitution and implementation of government policies at the the grassroot, and building highways and roads thats all.. . They have nothing to do with the implemntation of policies at the county level as this is left for the county governers senates et al, they can't in anyway make desicions that affect or overturn desicions of the senate at the county level. Mkuu what you are witnessing is the extended hangover of what we knew as the coalition government, where procedural wrangling over key decisions and implementation policies at the national level was routine.

The most important role of CCs yet is national cohesion?harmony at the county level. they are there to ensure/promote and nurture unity of county population which is important for a uniform economic growth.

 

[Kabaridi]

Thank you my 'Arm-Chair Defence General' livefire,

How you doing mate?....Thanks for adding a voice on this one. This Kabaridi, guy has a way of twisting facts like a professional....lol! He conviniently skirts around the article and picks what he wants to shoot down then voila...here we go!

On this one Kibaki has erred ever since the days of appointing those County Commisioners that everybody yelled about. What Kibaki is trying to do is to maintain the colonial outfit of the Provincial Administration under a new outfit. All this other story about a unity government is to raise antennas and have his foot soldiers like Kabaridi, doing the mop up.

Roundi hii ni shiriasss!!...Kibaki will pick a fight that he will have to leave for Uhuru to clean up coz the civil society is already up in arms. They not buying this...whatever Kibaki and the TA is selling.

The new Kenya!

Ab-Titchaz
I am mbaridi as usual lol..
i am not speaking on behalf of ol man but i have dealt it with it here. then your supreme court has much work on its desk to accomplish in the coming days; any controversies must be taken to the courts if any other option is sought then that will be egalitarian and contempt of insitutions mandated by the constitution.

 

[livefire]

The role of County commissioners is as simple as only being the watchdog of the utilization of govt assets......

The most important role of CCs yet is national cohesion?harmony at the county level. they are there to ensure/promote and nurture unity of county population which is important for a uniform economic growth.

The High Court declared these appointments as unconstitutional and consequently null and void. Lady Justice
Ngugi held that the President did not have any powers to appoint the Commissioners and that even if he did; he ought to have consulted the Prime Minister. She further stated that the president cannot make appointments to positions that are non existent.

The above excerpt places CC's in their rightful place, i.e. nowhere. Even so, why did the govt ignore a court order making the same illegal? Are some institutions above the law more than others? Time we revise the definition of impunity.

What is the ethnic composition of CC's? I read withing these pages a number that is honestly worrisome. Why should an elected figurehead report to an appointed and illegal figure puppet? No logic at all.....

About devolution, its insane that we had a TA that has done nothing atall....nothing...Tell them to tabulate accomplishments and the score card they got is a resounding D aggregate.

I side with the governors, its easier to monitor cash being misused at a county level than at the national level where military procurement loopholes and such excuses are used as scapegoats.

Let the money trickle down, the governors arent crying foul for nothing. Dispose off the CC's too....they are irrelevant.

 

[livefire]

Kabaridi, County commissioners act as watch dogs?!? I prefer Mwalimu Mati and his goons to give me mathematical booklets on appropriation expenditures rather than GoK auditors, they are more thorough in their work when it comes to tracing money laundering.....

 

[Dhuks]

County commissioners mandate(if they had any) should have lapsed once the governors were elected. We should now be talking about to what positions they have been redeployed to but as we ponder on that lets be a little realistic on a number of issues.

1. Will the government be running on taxes collected nationally and then distributed back to counties for projects that they have prioritised? If so who will these workers who will make it happen be answerable to?If not
2. Does the constitution talk of a completely devolved government? If that is the case will then will the central government handover the wage bill to the respective counties to all counties?
3. Does the constitution empower the counties to have individualised tax system? if that is the case will i pay taxes to numerous counties to move a container from Mombasa to Malaba?

Finally my two cents; on the issue of flags i think the governors should fly flags but the flags they should be flying are the county flags or two flags(county and state)but not the state flag, we should be able to distinguish between a county king and a cabinet secretary.

 

[Bantugbro]

Waangalie wasija wakasambarataisha nchi kama ilivyokua kule USSR...:shut-mouth:

 

[livefire]

Dhuks, anything associated with tax collection is a central govt's agenda, KRA will reign supreme over that.

As partains to distribution of collected revenue, that is the sole responsibilty of Commission of Revenue Allocation CRA. Once tha tax basket is full, it will be the mandate of Treasury to have in mind the current GoK expenditures which includes doctors salaries, teachers, military spending, foreign missions or in short anyone who can be categorised as a Public Servants and apportion that cash for GoK. That includes future expenses, modernisation programmes, eg airports devts, military etc etc etc.....

This is more of budget statements btw...subtract what central govt needs and then the CRA kicks in to redistrubute to counties the remainder of the bulk cash using the special CRA formula which factors alot of things among them poverty index, marginalisation, presence of unique revenue generating substances eg minerals, tea farming.

Since KRA is the sole tax man, moving goods within Kenya shouldnt attract county levies...infact the constitution shields Kenyans from this.

However, the inverse is true on tax generating activities, the natives around national parks, mineral resources will accrue more money than the rest but not all of it, the extra profit will be redustributed to other regions to ensure uniformity in devt between the poor and rich counties.

Just an attempt to answer you according to my understanding, i believe the bulk cash should be with governors for any meaningful and tangible devpt record at the grassroot level.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

AG backs Governors take on County Commissioners

Updated 3 mins ago

NAIVASHA, KENYA: Attorney General Githu Muigai has supported concern by governors on County Commissioner saying that he was opposed to their appointment from the onset and had advised the government accordingly.

He said that the commissioners were appointed under the old law but was still investigating whether they have been factored in the new dispensation.

According to him, the law was very clear and the governors had the authority to execute their mandate as outlined in the constitution.

"Governors will be responsible for the running of the counties as far as the law is concerned and I don't know where the other reports are coming from".

On the issue of flying flags, Muigai said that there was a law pending in parliament which enacted would see the emblems act amended.

He advised governors seeking to fly the flags to design their own county Logos, emblems, court of arms and flags and have them registered in his office.

"You can have them registered with the AGs office and then you will start flying your own county flag as opposed to having the National flag on your vehicle."

And for the third day governors attending their retreat in Naivasha took the state to task over the commissioners who are in the counties despite a court order.

The leaders said the commissioners were acting illegally saying that the state had been defiant over their wellbeing in the county.According to them, a court order had barred the commissioners from assuming their new statues but the state had continued to pay them illegally.

Led by Kiambu county governor William Kabogo, the governors said they would not accept them as they were duplicating their duties.

"We will not work with these commissioners as they are nowhere in the constitution and we do not understand their mandate".

During the conference governors caused a light moment when they inquired the titles they will be referred to.After a heated debate the Transitional Authority through its chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi agreed with the governors that they assume the title ‘His Excellency' as there was no law prohibiting such title.

Earlier, the commission on revenue allocation chairman Micah Cheserem said treasury had released Ksh 9.8bn to for the governors and their staff to settle down.

He said the commission had requested for ksh 30bn but treasury only gave the amount owing to several factors.
"I call on all the governors to settle in quickly so as to start their work when the national budget is read two months from now".
Cheserem said after the budget counties will share sh 231billion from the national budget but there will be an equalization fund for poorer counties which will share sh 3billion more.
"This translates to 34 percent of the sharable revenue while 14 counties will benefit with the additional equalization fund".

During the conference the chair of the Salaries and remuneration commission Sarah Serem failed to appear in the meeting despite been allocated time to address the governors.

Standard Digital News - Kenya : AG backs Governors take on County Commissioners-

 

[Dhuks]

Thanks livefire,
Lakini hapa naona ugumu kuelewana na wewe

Just an attempt to answer you according to my understanding, i believe the bulk cash should be with governors for any meaningful and tangible devpt record at the grassroot level.

Knowing politicians and this being a new system where the county structures are not even set up i believe the central government should at least have a supervisory role just the same ways that the various urban councils are made to account for LATF funds before more is allocated.
Hapa A.G tuko pamoja.

He advised governors seeking to fly the flags to design their own county Logos, emblems, court of arms and flags and have them registered in his office.

"You can have them registered with the AGs office and then you will start flying your own county flag as opposed to having the National flag on your vehicle."

 

[livefire]

Thanks livefire,
Lakini hapa naona ugumu kuelewana na wewe

Knowing politicians and this being a new system where the county structures are not even set up i believe the central government should at least have a supervisory role just the same ways that the various urban councils are made to account for LATF funds before more is allocated.
Hapa A.G tuko pamoja.

The AG for once has put his guard up, kudos...nowonder he was amicus curiae waeva the lingo meanz.hehe

Tried to get the piece of legislation allowing for supervisory role of the central govt over the county govt but i miss the particular legislation....however, affirmatively, i can confirm that the central govt can with hold cash from a county government whenever misappropriation is detected.....the central govt among other tasks can delegate some of its tasks to the county govt to a level it seems fit as quoted in section 185 part 2a.

This should be enough to guarantee you that the central govt will be on top of things.

Whats funny with all this is that, the County Govts Act of 2012, empowered the county govts in super awesome ways in a sense making them sound like autonomous demi states with the governors as the supremo bossess, blame the august house for this but its also good cause Kenyans wanted devolution. I bet the spirit of the day had its way. Get a copy of the act and read powers of this fellas.

Lets just hope graft will be tamed, with a governor to answer directly to me he/she should be able to tell me why my roads arent tarmacked, no water delivery, electricity etc. Central govts had always been biased at allocation of capital...

 

[mfianchi]

Embu majina ya hao ma- county commissioner na sehemu wanazotoka,si ajabu robo tatu wanatoka Mlimani,na ndio maana,Mwai anang'ang'ania kuwapa ulaji watu wake.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Embu majina ya hao ma- county commissioner na sehemu wanazotoka,si ajabu robo tatu wanatoka Mlimani,na ndio maana,Mwai anang'ang'ania kuwapa ulaji watu wake.

The following are the County Commissioners:

1. Joseph Keter -Kirinyaga
2. Michael Mwangi -Nyeri
3. Kula Hache -Muranga
4. Wcyliffe Ogallo – Nyandarua
5. Wilson Njega – Kiambu
6. Nelson Marwa – Mombasa
7. Evans Achoki – Kwale
8. Maalim Mohamed – Kilifi
9. Joseph Rotich – Tana-River
10. Stephen Ikua – Lamu
11. Rashid Khator – Taita Taveta
12. Isaiah Nakoru – Marsabit
13. Wanyama Musiambo – Isiolo
14. Chege Mwangi – Meru
15. Christopher Musumbu – Tharaka Nithi
16. Hellen S. Kiilu – Embu
17. Erastus Ekidor – Kitui
18. Ann Gakuria – Machakos
19. David N. Ole Shege – Makueni
20. Moffat Kangi – Garissa
21. Naftary Mung'athia – Wajir
22. Michael Tialal Nkodi – Mandera
23. Lorna Odero – Kisumu
24. Joseph Kimiywi – Siaya
25. Joseph S. Otieno – Homabay
26. Ann Ngetich – Migori
27. Wilson Wanyanga – Nyamira
28. Lydia Muriuki – Kisii
29. Julius Mathenge – Turkana
30. Peter Okwanyo – West Pokot
31. Charity Chepkonga – Trans-Nzoia
32. Arthur Osiya -Kajiado
33. Kassim Farah – Narok
34. Amos Gathecha – Nakuru
35. Bernard Leparmalai – Baringo
36. Esther W. Maina – Laikipia
37. Wilson Nyagwanga – Samburu
38. Abdi M. Hassan – Uasin Gishu
39. Birik Mohammed – Keiyo Marakwet
40. Matilda Sakwa – Nandi
41. Pauline Dola – Bomet
42. Rashid Mohammed – Kericho
43. Albert Kobia – Kakamega
44. William Kiprono – Vihiga
45. Jamlick Baruga – Bungoma
46. Joyce Isiaho – Busia
47. Shadrack Mwadime – Nairobi

http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2012/05/kibaki-names-47-county-commissioners/

 

[Dhuks]

County Government Bill 2012
Functions and responsibilities of a county governor
31. (1) The governor shall take and subscribe to the oath or affirmation as set out in the Schedule to this Act before assuming office.
(2) The governor shall-
(a) diligently execute the functions and exercise the authority provided for in the Constitution and legislation;
(b) perform such State functions within the county as the President may determine;
(c) represent the county in national and international fora and events;
(d) constitute the county executive committee portfolio structure to respond to the functions and competencies assigned to and transferred to each county;
(e) submit the county plans and policies to the county assembly for approval;
(f) consider, approve and assent to bills passed by the county assembly;
(g) chair meetings of the county executive committee;
(h) assign to every member of the county executive committee, responsibility to ensure the discharge of any function within the county and the provision of related services to the people;
(i) submit to the county assembly an annual report on the implementation status of the county policies and plans;
(j) deliver annual state of the county address;
(k) subject to the operational command structures set out in the Police Service Act or any other national security legislation, chair the county equivalent of the national security council as provided for in Article 239 (5) of the Constitution; and
(l) sign or designate a county public officer to sign county Gazette notices, unless county legislation provides otherwise.
(3) In performing the functions under subsection (2), the governor shall-
(a) provide leadership in the county's governance and development;
(b) provide leadership to the county executive committee and administration based on the county policies and plans;
(c) promote democracy, good governance, unity and cohesion within the county;
(d) promote peace and order within the county;
(e) promote the competitiveness of the county;
(f) be accountable for the management and use of the county resources; and
(g) promote and facilitate citizen participation in the development of policies and plans, and delivery of services in the county.
Powers of the governor
32. The governor-
(a) may dismiss a county executive committee member in accordance with section 41;
(b) shall dismiss a county executive committee member, if required to do so by a resolution of the county assembly as provided under section 41 of this Act;
(c) may appoint an accounting officer for each department, entity or decentralized unit of the county government; and
(d) shall have such powers as may be necessary for the execution of the duties of the office of governor.

 

[Kabaridi]

Kabaridi, County commissioners act as watch dogs?!? I prefer Mwalimu Mati and his goons to give me mathematical booklets on appropriation expenditures rather than GoK auditors, they are more thorough in their work when it comes to tracing money laundering.....

livefire

there can sometimes arise excessess at the county level and the devolved system of governance structure needs a system that can play a (or supervisory) to correct any imbalances that may hamper the dreams or act as a hindrance to achieving any real devolution. I am not saying that the CCs were appointed to play that role, all i am saying is we understand the role of governers and there are circumstances where temptations/subvertions need to be kept in check. It is quite simple, there should exist institutions that can prevent any escalations of conflicts between personal and public interests at the governers position...
....Since the operations of two levels of government (i.e county and national govts.) shall not be in surbodination to the other, this where shared institutions come created to secure the independence of both levels of government.
..what we r witnessing in the media r just allegations that there is an attempt to surbodinate the county govts to the national govt, while their roles r clearly defined.

Tried to get the piece of legislation allowing for supervisory role of the central govt over the county govt but i miss the particular legislation....however, affirmatively, i can confirm that the central govt can with hold cash from a county government whenever misappropriation is detected.....the central govt among other tasks can delegate some of its tasks to the county govt to a level it seems fit as quoted in section 185 part 2a.

There is actually legislation that provides the creation of shared institutions to ensure the uniqueness of interdependence is upheld as provided for by the new constitution for both govts to retain their independence.
...the aspect of devolution in kenya is very different from the federal govt systems viewpoint as reported in countires excercising the same, where the existence of administrative boundaries and parochial decisions that are far from reality within those federal states normally have a profound effect on the quality of governance/service provided at the local authority. How do you avoid this this problem??
...The kenyan constitution allows legislation for the creation of shared institutions that secure high standards of intergovernmental relations thereby enhancing capacity in the long run.
...IF The devolved system of governance is to remain developmental, then, all actors charged with governance i.e national and county governments must have an intimate relationship via these shared institutions.

... probably the hue and cry arises from the fact that the elected governors are yet to fully understand the joint operationalization of the county and national governance systems. You can't deny that there should be high levels of accountability at the county and at the national levels, because there is also in the same constitution a chapter that solely dwells on the procedure of the IMPEACHMENT! lol of governors..
...this does not mean that governors cannot clamour for 'more power' but these are just the ROE as suggestested by the new constitution. The main issue here of tax collection as you have said very clearly remains the role and authority of the national govt via KRA and the distribution of funds to the counties the sole authority by the central bank.

The High Court declared these appointments as unconstitutional and consequently null and void. Lady Justice
Ngugi held that the President did not have any powers to appoint the Commissioners and that even if he did; he ought to have consulted the Prime Minister. She further stated that the president cannot make appointments to positions that are non existent.

this is a bit controversial; It is the CIC that promulgated the new constitution by an act of parliament and if it was illegal to appoint county commissioners from the start, consulting the PM does not in effect6 make it more legal. I find this ruling a bit self serving! unless you add the remaining byte to the whole ruling if there is any. The whole fact of the matter is that the appointment of CC is illegal