Mr Bobby Mkangi, a member of the Committee of Experts that drafted the 2010 Constitution, addresses delegates at KICC. Mkangi says the political rigmarole where the central government finds it hard to release functions to devolved units has created a confusion.GROUP
The country is running a behemoth of parallel governments, gobbling billions of shillings that experts say could, with some streamlining, save an economy in the throes of turbulence.
An investigation by the Sunday Nation reveals a grim situation largely orchestrated by county governments’ employment of staff doing the same work as those from the national government, in blatant disregard of advisories by the Transition Authority.
Estimates by government bureaucrats suggest that were proper restructuring to be done, the country could save in excess of Sh150 billion annually.
With this money, you can, at a cost of Sh100 million, equip 1,500 hospitals and health centres in the country, curbing mortality rates significantly.
Or we could end up with another five Thika Superhighways in other parts of the country at a conservative cost of Sh30 billion each.
The reluctance by the national government to hand over some functions that the Constitution classifies as devolved has only escalated the double allocations of resources.
Counties have, for instance, formed water services companies and employed staff, yet the national government is still operating about a dozen regional authorities doing the same work and with hefty budgets.
When he appointed Mr Eugene Wamalwa as Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary in mid this year, President Uhuru Kenyatta, through Public Service head Joseph Kinyua, indicated that the scope of the docket would cover water quality and pollution control, sanitation management, dam construction schemes management, flood control and land reclamation and management of public water schemes and community water projects, roles that are almost exclusively devolved.
PARLIAMENTARY BUREAUCRACY
The Water Bill that seeks to transfer most of the work being done by Mr Wamalwa to county governments is still stuck in parliamentary bureaucracy amid a plan by the national government to scuttle it.
The effect of this has been a ballooning wage bill that has led to the paring down of development projects in the counties with some spending as little as 10 per cent on these.
The national government has also not been spared as more and more projects are stalling, with some roads earmarked for construction running behind schedule for lack of funds.
Legal minds say the law is very clear on the distinctive roles of the two levels of government, except that counties and the national government mandarins, motivated by selfish goals, are on overdrive to scuttle it.
Mr Bobby Mkangi, a member of the Committee of Experts that drafted the 2010 Constitution, says the political rigmarole where the central government finds it hard to release functions to devolved units has created a confusion.
“We’ve put the wagon on the train, in the process causing duplicity and overlap of responsibilities and function. We are putting something that was initially in abstraction into practice, so we learn as we move.”
Mr Mkangi says co-operation and consultation between the two governments would help sort out the mess.
“If only these people would set aside their insecurity and approach these matters with sobriety, we would save the money we are wasting,” he says.
DUPLICITY ROLES
The long-winded security structures in counties offer the best example of methodical duplication of roles in the current bureaucracy that neither the governors nor the central government wants to address.
Whereas the national government has its own command, headed by the county commissioner with sub-county commissioners, chiefs and sub-chiefs down the chain, there is a competing arrangement that owes its allegiance to the governor, who chairs the county policing authority.
Each sub-county has a sub-county administrator whose job description is more like that of a sub-county commissioner.
Curiously, their pay-slips read “deputy county commissioners” while those of ward administrators are titled “senior assistant county commissioners”.
Bearing in mind there are 1,450 wards in the country, the monthly salaries going into this structure alone is massive, yet security is a preserve of the national government.
Whereas there existed youth officers in the old system, counties recruited their own staff, further loading the wage bill after a tussle arose over who was to supervise the former.
In the current fiscal year alone about Sh100 billion could be going down the drain as a result of the duplicity of roles.
Kenya Rural Roads Authority, performing what should be a preserve of the counties, has close to Sh18 billion at their disposal, with Kenya Urban Roads Authority, its cousin, doing some roads that fall under the county category, having Sh10 billion this year.
An analysis of the fiscal plan shows that another Sh70 billion will be used by the national government in roles under the purview of counties, such as family planning, maternal health and child healthcare, reproductive services, housing and slum upgrading.
LEVEL PLOTTING
Mr Kinuthia Wamwangi, the Transition Authority chairman, says counties have done everything they can to foment the existing chaos.
“Counties continue to employ under the guise of sourcing for competent staff, ending up duplicating functions. The law is clear that no new officer should be recruited where national officers have been transferred.
“In January last year, I wrote an advisory stopping the recruitment in counties because they were doing this to the disadvantage of seconded staff,” he told the Sunday Nation.
Mr Wamwangi, whose term ends in February together with that of the Authority, decries the fact that most of those employed are not qualified for those positions.
The chairman singles out creation of sports commissions and authorities outside the law by the national government, the intention being to claim back the devolved roles.
“Most of the time, it is a test of might with one level plotting to besmirch the other,” he says.
He said they were jointly undertaking a human resource capacity assessment with the devolution ministry to ensure efficiency in public service.
Mr Philip Kungu, the chairperson of the Nairobi County Public Service Board says the age-old suspicion between national and county governments had compounded the situation.
“The national government fears that it could end up performing menial functions, which is a remote possibility.”
TURF WARS
The irrationality of it all is that the confusion then offers a perfect excuse to embezzle public funds because of double allocation of money to similar projects.
Liquor licensing, agriculture, county health services, county transport, including county roads, housing; pre-primary education and village polytechnics are some of the devolved functions.
The chairman of the Finance Committee at the Council of Governors, Mr Wycliffe Oparanya, who is also the Kakamega governor, says an audit commissioned by county chiefs show that the national government is holding onto Sh35 billion meant for counties, an amount he says came about as a result of duplication of roles.
“The national government must sober up and stop this unnecessary suspicion,” he said.
There are also cases where county chiefs have been committing finances to projects outside their province, like primary and secondary schools, yet nursery schools have not been built.
Turf wars and a feeling of insecurity pitting the national government against the devolved units has not helped despite the fact that the law envisions the principle of complementarity at the two levels.
Perhaps acknowledging the dire state of affairs, the national government is planning to spend up to Sh185 billion to retrench as many as 40,000 civil servants by the end of next year.
The comprehensive document proposes that public servants who opt for retirement would be offered between Sh450,000 and Sh750,000 as “golden handshake”.
“The recommendations on optimal staffing analysis have indicated that implementation of the Capacity Assessment and Rationalisation of the Public Service should result in overall downsizing of the public service establishment by a total of 38,858 at both national and county governments,” says the document.
GHOST WORKERS
The report, which is yet to be presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta, has also unearthed several inequalities in the public service, including unfair distribution of jobs among ethnic communities.
The report has been prepared by the Intergovernmental Steering Committee for Capacity Assessment and Rationalisation of the Public Service formed by Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.
Ms Waiguru, however, denies the reports of a planned retrenchment.
But the report’s recommendations are likely to put the government in a tight spot.
President Kenyatta launched the programme in July last year to cut down on the country’s ballooning wage bill — said to be at least Sh550 billion — and weed out ghost workers.
A subsequent biometric audit of the public service human resource at the national and county levels revealed a total of 199,921 civil servants.
The counties have 126,998 employees while the national government has 72,923 on its payroll.
The government committee has been working with human resource consultants Ernst &Young to develop the framework that could see the implementation of the second major retrenchment plan since independence.
According to the report’s analysis, the recommended number of workers needed at the national government is 53,766 while the number required at the county level is 107,297.
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