Proposal to kick counties out of rural power agency stirs discord

Energy CS Monica Juma. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

County governments are set to lose their four seats on the board of the Renewable and Rural Electrification Corporation (Rerec) in a proposed review of the Energy Act, 2019.

The Council of Governors (CoG) has four slots on the board of the State agency that connects rural households with electricity as well as pushing for the adoption of renewable energy. The Ministry of Energy nominates three other directors.

A proposed amendment to the Energy Act, however, says the Energy Cabinet Secretary (CS)will appoint all the seven members of Rerec’s board.

The proposed amendment, contained in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2022, further proposes the deletion of the clause that gave the CoG room to appoint four directors.

Recent appointments to the Rerec board by Energy CS Monica Juma have already kicked up a storm.

Dr Juma appointed six directors on April 14 and excluded any nominees by the CoG. She used the Energy Act of 2006, which was repealed in 2019 following the enactment of the current Act.CoG moved to court to challenge the appointments and the CS yielded to pressure, acting on advice from the Attorney General to gazette a fresh list of directors that included nominees by CoG.

Other than the seven members appointed by the CS, Rerec’s board also includes a chair who is a presidential appointee, the principal secretaries of Energy and National Treasury and the chief executive of the agency.

The CoG had in an April 27 letter to the CS expressed its displeasure in the earlier appointments, noting that they were irregular and a deliberate attempt to exclude the council from being represented on the Rerec board.

“The council is concerned by the action as it negates the laws which stipulate that members of the board shall include four members appointed by the Council of Governors,” said the letter by CoG Chairman Martin Wambora. CoG also said the proposals in the Bill were in contradiction to the spirit of the Constitution, specifically Article 189 which has provision for cooperation between State and counties as well as the Fourth Schedule that distributes functions between the two levels of government.

The council said, “the core values of the Constitution is devolution of power and sharing of resources as well as the participation of the people.”

The 2019 Energy Act expanded the mandate of Rerec, requiring it to “establish a framework for collaboration with counties in the discharge of its mandate” of rural electrification.