CoG Chairman Peter Munya said they will battle for immediate transfer of all functions. Photo/ FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 10 – The Council of Governors Chairman Peter Munya has opposed the Executive’s bid to extend the Transition Authority’s term by a year.
The Meru Governor has said the Authority should be dissolved in March in accordance with the law and all county functions be transferred accordingly.
The failure to do so, he said, would lead to a legal battle. “All functions that rightly fall to the county government must be handed over together with the funds allocated to them.”
Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri on January 7 called on Parliament to extend the term of the Authority, which ends in March, by a year in order to allow it complete pending work.
“It is clear that the Constitution did not envisage the heavy workload that the TA has had to contend with. It is estimated that 65 percent of the work is done. However, important core functions are pending,” he told reporters on Thursday.
He listed the audit and transfer of assets and liabilities, transfer of human resources between the two levels of government, establishment of county pensions and the declaration of county governments as public servants as part of the work left undone.
TA Chairman Kinuthia Wa Mwangi said they would do their best to conclude things should they receive another year in office but said it fell below their ideal with is another three years.
“We see disaster if we just left now with only some work half way done not because of our own fault but because of the circumstances of the day. We hope that other stakeholders will support the Cabinet Secretary’s stand and agree to extend this term so that we can complete this for the sake of Kenya.
“We shall comply with the extension that we shall be given but it is also conditional upon the support that we shall get from all the stakeholders because if you give a shorter term, it will require that extraordinary means be taken to finish our mandate,” he said.
Section 37 of the Transition to Devolved Government Act 2012 states that the Transition Authority shall stand dissolved three years after the first general elections under the Constitution or upon the full transition to county governments, whichever is the earlier.
“I wish to point out that the Intergovernmental Relations Committee was expected to take over residual functions. I am persuaded that what remains to be done is co-work rather than residual and that the core existence of the two bodies will not be in conflict,” Kiunjuri sought to assure.
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