Confusion in ministries with more than one PS

By LILLIAN ALUANGA-DELVAUX

Uncertainty has arisen in several government ministries after it emerged that at least eight Principal Secretaries will not have control over their departmental finances this year.

This is due to a conflict between the law empowering accounting officers and the structure of government chosen by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto.

Critics of the new Jubilee structure say there are more PSs than required under the law and the departments they control are poorly defined.

There are currently 18 ministries, down from 44 and  while some of the new ministries have one Principal Secretary, others have more. Those with one officer at the helm include the ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Health, Mining, Land, Housing and Urban Development, Sports Culture and Arts, Information, Communication and Technology, and Energy and Petroleum.

In several ministries with more than one PS, however, the question which one is the accounting officer has led to confusion and a degree of friction.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has three Principal Secretaries in charge of Agriculture, (Sicily Kariuki), Livestock (Dr Khadija Kassachom) and Fisheries (Prof Joseph Ntiba). The Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government also has two PSs in charge of Interior (Mutea Iringo) and Coordination (Josephta Mukobe).

The same applies to the Ministry of Devolution and Planning that has PSs in charge of Devolution (John Konchella) and Planning (Peter Magiti), and the Education ministry which has two departments, headed by Dr Belio Kipsang (Education) and Prof Colleta Suda (Science and Technology).

Buck passing

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has Mr Nduva Muli in charge of Transport and John Mosonik (Infrastructure),while the ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources has Mr James Lopoyetum (Water) and Mr Richard Lesiyampe (Environment and Natural Resources).

These arrangements have raised questions on who is the accounting officer and whether such a framework lays the ground for buck passing. There are also questions on whether this is just a transitional challenge and even if it were resolved, what criteria will be used to determine which PSs are appointed accounting officers.

Prof James Kiyiapi, a former PS in the Ministry of Education, says the genesis of the challenge lies in the interpretation of the Constitution.

“The framers of our Constitution wanted to follow the US model,” he says. “Thus, we talk of departments, not ministries, under the new order. But the problem is that we are still not clear on what a department is in our context. Our Constitution provides for every Principal Secretary to be in charge of a State Department, but does a State Department, in our case, equal a ministry? If so we can only have one vote head and, therefore, one accounting officer. We would not need to have more PSs than the number of ministries.”

Kiyiapi gives an example of the previous structure in which what is now the Ministry of Education with two departments, Education and Science and Technology, were distinct ministries each with their own Permanent Secretaries that were recognised as the accounting officers.

“If this is what was envisaged under the current arrangement, the Treasury should have created two vote heads,” he says. “But it seems like when the Treasury was allocating vote heads (accounting units) it was operating under the interpretation that a ministry equals a department. If you have one vote head per ministry, then it doesn’t make sense to have 18 ministries and 26 Principal Secretaries irrespective of the number of departments in a ministry. What we have in several ministries now are PSs with no accounting authority and who are actually just floating unless some changes are made.”

Director of External Media Relations in the Office of the President Munyori Buku says only the Treasury can appoint accounting officers.

“Even if one is appointed a Principal Secretary, it is not automatic that they become accounting officers since only the Treasury can confer such authority,” he says. “Currently we have one vote for every ministry, which means we can only have one accounting officer. But things will be different from the next financial year.”

Delegated responsibilities

Kenneth Lusaka, the Bungoma Governor who is a former PS in the Ministry of Livestock, says while it is necessary to have Principal Secretaries in charge of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, challenges may arise if there is no clarity on who among the PSs is the accounting officer and, therefore, the final port of call in the Ministry.

“Previously all these departments were lumped together under one ministry and it was easy to have Livestock and Fisheries consumed by Agriculture,” he says. But even where a PS is appointed as the accounting officer in a ministry, Lusaka argues there is a possibility of ruffling feathers among counterparts who may feel like ‘lesser PSs’.

“What criteria will be used in deciding Principal Secretary X is the accounting officer over say Principal Secretary Y while in essence all of them are PSs? Treasury may just have to write letters to each of the PS’s appointing them accounting officers then create a vote head for each,” he says.

He too points to the need for clarity in interpreting the Constitution with regards to the roles of a Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretaries.

Under the current arrangement Cabinet Secretaries are technocrats, unlike the past when ministers were politicians largely dealing with policy direction. Permanent Secretaries then held the highest professional and technical positions in a ministry and were in charge of finances in the ministry. They were also in charge of management and recruitment of staff under the guidance of the Public Service Commission.

Under the new order, however, some responsibilities have been delegated and in many cases it appears as though the PSs role will largely depend on what the Cabinet Secretary decides.