Blaming governors for insecurity is misplaced

BY MOHAMED GULEID

According to the Constitution of Kenya and other relevant laws, functions of the National Government and the county governments are separated.

In Schedule Four of the Constitution, the functions of the county governments are clearly defined but do not include matters regarding national security, foreign affairs, education and other functions which have become a preserve of the President and his Cabinet at the national level. Chapter 10 (articles 238, 239 and 240) of the Constitution mandates the national government to ensure the security of the country is under control.

This function is clearly not under the county government. During the concluding years of President Kibaki’s administration, the National Assembly passed a Bill that had put the governor as the chairman of the county security committee but the President declined to assent the Bill into law.

Meaning that the county governments have no form of control over issues of security. Whenever incidents of insecurity occur in the counties the county government has to plead with the police commanders for intervention. Sometimes the response of the officers depends only on personal relationship between the county officials and the police commandants.

In the event of lack of friendly relationship nothing gives the governor an authority to direct matters of operations. At the moment many counties are affected by inter-tribal clashes. Due to scarcity of resources many counties are likely to continue suffering these kinds of problems.

This is especially so in semi arid counties, where scarcity of pasture and water resources is common, cases of cattle rustling or ethnic conflict would be rampant. On such matters that are related to security the county governments might mitigate but not enforce the law.

In the recent past, there have been media reports that some section of the national government leaders have indicated that they might wind up governments of the counties where conflict is taking place. Any attempt by the National Government to do that would not solve any problem because the mandate of resolving these conflicts does not lie with the county governments, but with the national government. The suspension of a county government might not necessarily solve the problem because the underlying issues first need to be addressed.

In the event of members of the county government getting involved in incitement or becoming partisan in such conflict, then police should arrest and prosecute such individuals but not victimise the entire county government just because of one individual or small group of people.

A better solution would be for Parliament to reintroduce the Bill which had given powers to governors to chair the county security committee. Such a move would give the county governors political responsibilities on matters of security and in the long run help calm down conflict.

The National Government should be ready to cede some authority on this because as it is now, there appears to be a vacuum. Even the chain of command within the police services at the county level is not clear.

There are at the moment county commanders who at times are the same command level with their juniors at the sub county level. Also, the fact that the national coordination role within the county is with the county commissioners, even they have no command authority over the police.

Finally, the manner in which national security matters are being organised must incorporate the county governments simply because the county governments have grassroots representation which the national government does not.

For even though the ‘Nyumba Kumi’ initiative of the National Government is a good idea, the enforcement requires legitimacy from local elders. Without their support the initiative might not take off. The county governments are deploying village administrators who are officers with direct links to the local communities. That is why involvement of the county government on security issues is of essence.

In the absence of this, I don’t know how a governor can be held responsible for security matters in the county.