Proposals to the Task Force on Devolved Government
Prepared by The Institute for Social Accountability TISA, in association with the Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG), Centre for Human Rights and citizen education (CHRCE), Muslim for Human Rights (MUHURI), and Vihiga, Emuhaya, Sabatia and Hamisi Initiative (VESH)
This paper deals primarily with the aspects of citizen participation and accountability the core areas of TISA’s mandate. Download the full Proposals to the Task Force on Devolved Government here to view the issues dealt with.
1. General Recommendations on the Taskforce Process
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It is our expectation that the taskforce will develop a detailed policy paper to guide subsequent legislation; including a county government blue print, transition timetable, list of needed legislation, and recommendations on the leadership of the transition process.
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It is our expectation that the Taskforce will liaise with the Commission for Implementation of Constitution (CIC) and other reform bodies to ensure a harmonised process.
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We request taskforce to publish its work plan to clearly indicate expected outcomes and their proposed dates. We note that the short notice given for members of the public input has made public mobilization challenging. We request that the draft policy will be subjected to public validation. We also note that there is critical need for civic education on the constitution as a whole and specifically the county governments and expect the Taskforce to make clear recommendations on this as well.
Present Status of Decentralized Financing adapted from IEA
2. Present challenges in Kenya’s decentralisation framework
Kenya’s present decentralized framework has been ineffective due to: Confused and Ad Hoc Policy, Political manipulation – refusal by central government to cede power to lower levels, Lines of authority and accountability unclear, Low capacity of implementation units, Failure to delegate administrative discipline , weak oversight, Poor planning and non-existence M&E : resources spread too thin, professional ineptitude, low capacity, Poor citizen engagement, Poor Information Management, and Official Secrets Mentality.
3. Key Governance Institutions under the Constitution of Kenya 2010
National Assembly: National Legislation, Appropriation of expenditure, Oversight
Senate: County Legislation, Allocation and oversight of county revenue and expenditure
Governor: Directly elected by voters on the same day for electing MP’s (second Tuesday in august every fifth year), Max two terms, Nominates deputy governor, Nominates Executive committee
County Executive Committee: Executive Authority is vested in the CEC encompassing the Governor, Deputy Governor and members of the county executive appointed by the Governor, Implements county legislation and national legislation to the extent required, Manage and Coordinate functions of the county, etc, May prepare proposed legislation, To provide assembly with regular reports
County Assembly: Legislative authority for counties vested in the assembly, Exercise oversight over county government, Receive and approve plans for management and exploitation of county resources, development and management of its infrastructure and institutions
Commission on Revenue Allocation: 9 members appointed by the President. There were selected on competitive basis; Shall not be MP’s and shall have extensive experience in finance and economics matters. Make recommendation for equitable sharing of revenue. Make recommendations on other matters concerning financing of county governments (develop criteria). Determine, review and publish policy on allocations criteria.
Submit its recommendations to the Senate, National Assembly, National executive, county assemblies and county
executive.
4. Response to Taskforce Thematic Areas
Issue 1: Cooperative Government, Inter-Governmental Relations and Levels of Governance
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Proposal for Sub-County Implementation Units
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Proposal for Sub County Citizens Forum
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Reviewing and recommending annual prioritized projects, engaging in consensus dialogue towards the development of the final list of prioritized projects which shall constitute the annual county plan, which shall be transmitted to the county executive for approval. Failure to obtain approval of the ward representatives at the sub-county assembly forum for the annual prioritized project should result in withholding of development budget funds.
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The sub-county forum shall establish citizen oversight committees as needed to oversee subcounty and county project implementation.
- The sub-county citizen forum (SCCF) will be required to receive the county implementation status report on a quarterly basis. It shall also receive county expenditure reports prepared by the sub-county executive. The status report shall capture all allocations, expenditure, projects, status and responsible departments to provide a simple monitoring tool for all county development. The forum will prepare an oversight report providing comments or reactions to the status report quarterly and channel any arising complaints to the county executive and assembly for follow up.
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The sub-county forum will receive annual monitoring reports prepared by the sub-county sectoral offices through the County Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation System (CIMES). It will also receive citizen monitoring reports. It shall make recommendations based on the monitoring reports and forward the same to the county executive and copy them to the assembly for action.
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The SCCF should have the power to establish committees for specific purposes, e.g. a committee that addresses the allocation of funds, another audit, and procurement among others.
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Assembly members of the Sub-County should be required to attend all the SCCF meetings.
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The SCCF shall have power to petition parliament;
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Citizens shall participate in the sub-county forum on a volunteer basis.
- The sub-county forum will have the right to access all official records for sectoral and county departments.
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A calendar of all meetings shall be maintained and publically disseminated to ensure maximum participation. This calendar should be synchronized with that of the County assembly to ensure full participation by county assembly members. All meetings shall be based on prior provision of relevant information, reports and minutes of meetings to ensure informed participation.
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Proposal for Ward citizen forums
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Generation of priority projects through the Community Based Planning and Monitoring System (see annex 1). Prioritized projects shall be forwarded to the sub-county citizen forum (SCCF) for consensus.
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The Ward Citizen Forums (WCF) will receive the Ward Implementation status report prepared by the Community Development Officer on a quarterly basis. The status report shall capture all allocations, expenditure, projects, status and responsible departments to provide a simple monitoring tool for all county development. The forum will prepare a report providing comments or reactions to the status report on projects in or cross cutting their respective ward only, on a quarterly basis and channel any arising complaints to the SCCF and/or CEC, and County Assembly for follow up.
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The Ward Citizen Forums shall establish citizen monitoring committees to oversee all ongoing projects in the ward. They shall generate quarterly or bi-annual citizen monitoring reports to be tabled at the ward citizen forum (WCF).
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The Ward Citizen Forums (WCF) will receive annual monitoring reports prepared by the Community Development Officer through the County Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation System (CIMES). It will also receive the citizen monitoring reports whose recommendations shall be incorporated into the official and final annual monitoring report to be tabled at the Sub-County Forum. The Ward Citizen Forums (WCF) can also make complaints and recommendations and forward the same to the SCCF, CEC or county assembly for action.
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The WCF shall nominate or select two ward representatives to represent the ward at the SCCF. The two ward representatives shall be required to attend every WCF meeting, forward arising issues and report back on the same. These representatives shall be persons competent in local development matters, non-partisan, of good repute and compliant with Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010.
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The WCF shall have power to petition the county assembly directly.
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Citizens shall participate in the WCF forum on a volunteer basis.
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The WCF will have the right to access all official records for sectoral and county departments.
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Community Development Officer
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Proposal for National Policy on Devolution
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Proposal for a National Devolution Committee
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Proposal for a Government Committee on Devolution
We propose there be Sub-County Implementation Units under each County which shall be responsible for service delivery. They should be protected in statute. Sub County level will concentrate on administrative functions and service delivery and be comprised solely of technical government officers who will work on a sectoral or project basis. Technical officers shall be recruited at the county level.
Functions: Planning and budgeting, implementation, monitoring, citizen liaison through maintenance and implementation of the participatory implementation calendar and events. County officers shall prepare detailed periodic sectoral progress reports to relevant county sector officers. A comprehensive annual Sub-County implementation report shall be prepared.
We propose that these units be determined based on cost effectiveness and closeness to the citizen. They may be 175-290 in line with the present LA boundaries or district boundaries. Key considerations will be cost effectiveness as ability of the citizen to engage as this will be the level at which the citizens actively engage with the county government.
Proposal for A Sub County Citizens Forum(SCCF) at sub-county level. This body, its mandate and powers should be protected in statute, with operational procedures detailed in implementation guidelines.
Composition: County assembly members of the sub-county, citizen ward representatives, technical county government officers, CSO representatives, and religious and development partners. The County Development Officer responsible for planning and monitoring (equivalent to DDO) shall act as convenor and secretary and will be responsible for coordination of projects and sectoral departments. It shall
appoint a neutral civilian head who must be a person competent in development matters, non-partisan, of respectable repute and distinguished career of at least 5 years in development matters. its meeting shall be open to all members of the public to attend and contribute.
Functions:
The citizen forum shall sit in accordance with the development calendar for purposes of:
Proposal for Ward Citizen Forums (WCF) to enable citizen engagement directly in the planning, budgeting and implementation and monitoring stages of the planning and development cycle. The meetings shall be convened by the Community Development Officer, who will also be the secretary.
Composition: It shall be comprised of ward residents, the ward assembly member of that ward, the Community Development Officer, CSOs working in the ward, Religious bodies and development partners, relevant technical government officers.
Functions:
The County shall assign an officer at the ward level known as the Community Development Officer. This shall be the officer responsible for ward level planning and monitoring (equivalent to DDO) shall act as convenor and secretary of the WCF and will be responsible for information dissemination, coordination of projects and sectoral departments at the ward level.
Proposal that the taskforce report will develop a national county policy to guide the development of county legislation. This policy should be subjected to a public validation process and thereafter given statutory force. Subsequent County legislation should be in conformity with the policy. All counties should be required to comply with the county structures and institutions as provided in the policy.
Proposal for a statutory National Devolution Committee to manage the task of bringing the counties to life; The committee should oversee the transition into counties, especially staff redeployment, rationalization, and retraining. They should oversee the assets transfer and establishment of needed institutions during the transition process over the next 5years. They should oversee the development the curriculum for capacity building, and the needed operational guidelines and curricula. The staff should be competitively recruited for a period of five years and the committee should be placed under the CIC.
In the long term, the committee should be placed under the CRA, and thereafter undertake the role of national county policy review and harmonization, and enforcement of standards in county government. It should be a body corporate and be able to recruit its own staff, enjoy autonomy and strong mandate.
Proposal for a government committee on devolution to enable Ministries transit effectively from the present into county governments. The role of the government committee vis a vis the proposed national devolution committee is to provide needed data and deliberate on proposed plans. The ultimate say will be with the National Devolution Committee and CIC which are impartial bodies.
Download the full Proposals to the Task Force on Devolved Government here to view the rest of the issues dealt with. 
