Date Posted: 10/11/2011 12:24:36 AM
Posted By: luyali Membership Level: Silver Total Points: 120
THE PROPOSED MODEL OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE COUNTY AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT THE PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATIONProvincial Administration was the most visible arm of the Executive, since it cascades to the lowest administrative unit i.e. the sub-location. It traced its origin to the colonial era, when the colonial authorities in their effort to effectively govern the East African Protectorate introduced institutions which represented not only the formal mechanisms of Government decision-making, but also means of political influence. During this period, its main functions were to collect taxes, maintenance of law and order and pacification of the natives in the colony. It also provided judicial services (lay services) and participated in legislative matters in Local Authorities.The colonial administration, created institutions such as the native research, in a bid to strengthen itself at the grass root levels and to ensure that development and enforcement of policies and laws were seen as locally made. This administrative technique was meant to legitimize colonial policies leadership. The chief, then known as the village headman, was the prime instrument of the District Commissioners, then known as Regional Agents, for the disposal of colonial Government business. The Headman relied on ‘village bullies’ to exercise his authority and to effect colonial Government policies. These ‘village bullies’ took up the role of the native police by enforcing and arbitrating as delegated by the Headman.The Local Native Councils (LNC’s) were established in 1924 and played an advisory role to the District Commissioners, levied taxes and made by-laws for the agriculture and education sectors. Also put in place were the African Tribunal Courts, whose main function was to adjudicate disputes under customary law but in reality governed more by English Law and administrative supervision. The District Commissioner served as the “Court of Appeal” for the tribunals.The modern Provincial Administration has the Provincial Commissioner as the Head of the Province, the DCs, DOs, Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs. The mandate has been widened to include development coordination over and above the maintenance of law and order. The Provincial Administration, as a colonial relic and an instrument of state authority, represented virtually all the ugly manifestations of executive misadventures. The PC, DC, DO, Chief and Assistant Chief are titles that have come to be associated with repression and tyranny. Amendments that were made to the independence Constitution reinstated much of the colonial structure of local government. Kenya was divided into eight provinces, each headed by a Provincial Commissioner (PC), supervised by the Office of the President. There are over sixty-five Districts, headed by District Commissioners, (DCs). Districts were further divided into divisions, headed by District Officers. Divisions consist of locations, (headed by Chiefs) and sub-locations (headed by Sub-Chiefs). Finally, villages were the smallest units, and are headed by village heads. Local authorities established under the Local Government Act are the city, municipal, county, town, county division and urban councils. The Provincial Administration was a department of the central government, falling under the Office of the President. The Provincial Administration system divides Kenya into eight administrative provinces: Coast, Eastern, Central, Nairobi, Rift-Valley, North-Eastern, Nyanza, and Western. Each province is sub-divided into districts, districts into divisions, and divisions into locations and sub-locations. A provincial commissioner heads each province and is appointed by the president. The district administrative head is the district commissioner.Kenyan laws establish four classes of local authorities: City, Municipal, Town and County Councils. The first three are all urban authorities, while county councils are rural. The local authorities are divided into several wards, depending on the population and geographical area. In the general elections held every five years, each ward elects one councilor to the local authority. The councilors then elect one member for the position of mayor (for the urban authorities) or chairperson (for county councils). A portion of the local authorities'' revenue comes from local levies and local business licensing fees. The local authorities also receive allocations from the central government. A controversy erupted in Kenya as to the status of the Provincial Administration in the anticipated political structure following the promulgation of a new Constitution. At the heart of the controversy is the provision in the new Constitution touching on transfer of powers from the national government to county governments through devolution.Traditionally, the Provincial Administration in the country’s five Provinces headed by Provincial Commissioners and supported by District Commissioners, have drawn their authority from the Central government. Since Kenya’s emergence from colonial revolution in 1963 and the subsequent promulgation of the country’s independence, appointment of heads of the Provincial Administration has been the sole prerogative of the President.For the last forty seven years, the Provincial Administration has been synonymous with abuse of power, violation of the rights and freedoms of Kenyans, repeated rigging of elections, iron-fisted dictatorship, authoritarianism, erection of a police State controlled by a tiny ruling class and unmitigated impunity.This unfortunate situation has fathomed for decades because Provincial Commissioners and their lower appendages have literally been the extended arm of an all-powerful Imperial President calling the shots from State House in Nairobi. A major reason that inspired millions of Kenyans to expunge the Provincial Administration from the power structure was because of the great disservice this branch of government was rendering to the people.Since the Provincial Administration was under the direct control of the President, political opponents and the citizenry alike became subjects of oppression as the supposed service oriented Administration was systematically converted into an instrument of mass subjugation.The ultimate climax that exposed the unspeakable “horrors of dictatorship” possible under the Provincial Administration was witnessed during Moi’s one party dictatorship, time when detention without trial, imprisonment on trumped up charges, political assassinations, muzzling of the Press, mass murder and other unacceptable practices became the order of the day.What was even more disturbing was the reality that the Provincial Administration was a direct inheritance from colonialism, a monster that inspired Kenyans to take up arms to wage a protracted and bitter liberation war against British colonialists who had taken over the country’s most fertile lands and converted Kenyans into slaves in their own country as the plunder of our natural resources continued unabated.The failure to disband the Provincial Administration after the emergence, in 1963, of the Kenyan State (styled around deformed capitalism) was a big mistake which, nevertheless, was well understood by the British. The strategy was to enable the British erect a retrogressive Neo-colonial State that would be led by home-guards and bootlickers who would plead their allegiance to London and facilitate the repatriation of the country’s wealth abroad. The existence of the Provincial Administration therefore reminds Kenyans of a colonial past under British colonialism and political dictatorship under subsequent Presidents who thrived on one Party dictatorships. It is however ironical that this all powerful institution of the Provincial Administration was never anchored in the old constitution.
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