Stakeholders on LA s
6 CHANGES THAT MAY AFFECT THE LOCAL
GOVERNMENT SYSTEM
The Proposed Constitution of Kenya devolvesgovernment into ‘new county’ governments
consisting of a county assembly and a county
executive. This proposed constitution thus clearly spells out two units of devolution, namely, parliament and the county. The con- stituency on the other hand is organised in a very simple way and does not have different
types of personnel working in various depart- ments representing ministries at central level. The management committees established to
manage the funds are also not composed of
many members. One most unfortunate reality is that constituencies are heavily controlled by the area Member of Parliament and that the community to large extent is afraid of the area Member of Parliament. The fear ends during the election period.
7
CONCLUSION
This chapter has examined the organisation of local government in Kenya. It has focused on assessing the provincial administration, local authority sub-system and constituency sub- system; to highlight the sub-systems, centres of power, functions of these sub-systems and their interaction with citizens including their
challenges. The chapter has observed that the
Kenya’s local government system is very com- plex. It has three partially overlapping sub- systems. The dominant sub-system, in terms of power and influence, is the Provincial Ad- ministration. Local authorities in Kenya have a distinct structure provided for under the Local
Government Act merging civil and administra- tive functions. The civil function is vested in the elected and nominated councillors. The law
provides that those nominated as councillors
do not exceed one third of the total.
The chapter has observed that the local govern- ment in Kenya suffers from a number of com- mon weaknesses. It is under-resourced and dominated by a strong executive, notably the Office of the President. Line ministries retain control over their areas of influence at the local level. Local authorities are dominated by the strong influence, both formal and informal of national politicians over local decision-making processes, including the use of development funds and the management and allocation of natural resources such as land. The Proposed New Constitution of Kenya which devolves
government to new county governments con- sisting of a county assembly and a county ex- ecutive is likely to bring positive reforms in the local government.
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