NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 8 – The government says it will not scrap the Provincial Administration but will instead rename it to the National Administration System in order to accommodate Provincial Commissioners, District Commissioners, District Officers and chiefs in the devolved government under the new Constitution.
Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia told Capital News that the new outfit would help the President run the central and county government down to the grassroots.
“That is the only institution which the President will rely on to ensure that he is able to cascade national functions including functions of the counties,” Mr Kimemia said in an interview on Capital in the Morning show.
“So we have the National Administration System, not the Provincial Administration anymore. It will oversee and supervise the central government’s field services down to the lowest levels. This is a constitutional requirement,” he said.
This, he said, does not mean scrapping the Provincial Administration but just restricting it.
With the introduction of 47 counties in the government structure, and the abolition of the provinces, Provincial Commissioner would be redeployed to the headquarters in Nairobi from where they will oversee operations of clusters of Counties.
In the new arrangement, each of the eight PC will be given a specific cluster of counties to govern and will largely rely on the DCs, DOs and chiefs as is the case currently.
The District Commissioners, District Officers and Chiefs will therefore, continue to discharge their mandate in their respective jurisdictions, according to Mr Kimemia.
“So the DCs are still intact, most of them prefer to retain the name District Commissioners but I think the issue is not the names, it is whether they are rendering services,” he added.
He added that the new system would introduce the position of village elders at the lowest level of the central government. “We also want to bring in the elders you know the existence of elders has not been legalislated.”
The government maintains that it is important to have a systematic coordination, harmonisation and supervision of Local and National Government functions and indeed deliberate efforts should be made to support the County Governments to complimentarily achieve their mandate.
The PS told Capital News that already a team of technocrats has been put in place to initiate consultations among staff and other stakeholders on the desired form of restructuring that will ensure a strong system of National Administration.
“All this is aimed at ensuring proper coordination and implementation of National Government functions while supporting and according respect to the County government in execution of their mandate,” Mr Kimemia said.
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