Senators row with governors over Transitional Authority's extended term

Senators have opened a new battlefront with governors after they published a bill to extend the Transitional Authority's (TA) term.

The Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill 2016 seeks changes to Section 15 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to give the TA a further three years in office. The governors find the idea unpalatable on grounds that TA must fold up at the end of the transition period on March 4 as set out in the law.

The bill by the Senate's Justice and Human Rights Committee was published two weeks ago and is set to be tabled before the House after recess.

"...The Senate may, by resolution, extend the period .... for a further period of not more than three years. The purpose of this amendment is to enable the completion of the transition work. This is in view of the fact that the transition period contemplated in Section 15 of the Sixth Schedule is set to lapse on March 4 2016, yet there are critical elements of transfer of functions, which are still outstanding and may not be completed by that date," reads the bill

The proposed law states that part of the work yet to be completed is the development of a framework to unbundle concurrent functions and the transfer of seconded staff from the national to county governments.

But governors want all functions of transition handled by the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee, a body formed by the Government and on which they have representation.

The TA is mandated by the Constitution to manage the transfer of functions from the national to the county government.

Governors claimed TA has been gobbling funds while at the same time delaying the critical audit of assets and liabilities and the unbundling of critical functions. In the current financial year, TA was allocated Sh687 million.

"All functions must have been transferred by March 4, 2016," the Council of Governors said in a statement on January 14, just a day before the Senate's bill was published.