Problem solvers or spies? recognising village elders

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen says the proposed policy will define village elders' duties, ensure training and oversight. [File, Standard] Are village elders who are yet to be recruited by the national government going to be problem solvers or government spies? The Ministry of Interior has been conducting public participation over the past week to gather views from Kenyans on the recognition and formalization of village elders. The exercise seeks input on recruitment, monthly pay, uniforms, tools of service, and the scope of their jurisdiction, as most villages lack clear boundaries. It also invites views on the proposed title, Village Administrative Elder. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen described the move as a "transformative milestone in Kenya's journey towards devolved governance," aimed at bridging the gap between citizens and the state while enhancing service delivery at the grassroots. However, security analyst George Musamali sees it differently. He believes the initiative is a covert attempt by the Kenya Kwanza government to set up a parallel spy network outside the National Intelligence Service. "President Ruto is taking us back to the dark days when criticising the government was dangerous," said Musamali. "Freedom of speech will be curtailed." Musamali says if the elders are to be enrolled in the government payroll, where there have been proposals for them to get paid between Sh5,000 and Sh7,000, then Kenyans are about to see the government everywhere. As of 2024, data from the Interior Ministry and presented to Parliament by the Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo shows that Kenya has 106,072 recognised villages. He said that the ministry was pushing for the official mapping and gazettment of villages to give structure and identity to grassroots jurisdictions across the country. "This clarity will be essential in ensuring that village elders operate within defined mandates and receive the support necessary to carry out their duties with legitimacy and effectiveness," he said. In 2024, the Kenya Kwanza administration sought to have the Interior Ministry allocate some Sh2.7 billion more to cover the elders' salaries and operations. Governance expert, Tom Mboya, argues that before they are formally recognised, the government needs to tell Kenyans what role the elders will occupy and what problem they will be solving. "What is the purpose of formalising an institution that has been there?" he poses. Mboya argues that apart from being spies, the government will be looking to use them for mobilisation for campaigns in Ruto's bid for a second term in office. He says that the elders could prove critical since they can reach all parts of the country that the president's campaign team may not visit. Mboya sees the recognition of elders as a duplication of the roles since the country already has county commissioners, their assistants, chiefs, and their assistants as well. In the draft policy, for one to qualify as an elder, they need to be Kenyans of sound mind with leadership qualities, 45 years and above, meet Chapter Six of the constitution, and be knowledgeable about the areas they want to serve. Other qualifications are deep knowledge of local culture and residents, continuous residence in the village for at least five years, and commands community respect. CS Murkomen said that the elders will continue with their traditional functions but will also take on formal administrative duties like keeping community incident records, promoting civic awareness, and acting as links between citizens and state institutions. Musamali says that after taking power, President Ruto's administration has been slowly taking the country back to the era of the old constitution. He argues that Commissioners and Chiefs are not recognised by the current constitution, but the government has been looking for more ways to make them powerful. For instance, a few months after being sworn into office, Kenya Kwanza sought to arm Chiefs and have each of them allocated at least five police officers to work under them. If the move goes through, Kenya currently has more than 6,000 chiefs, and by estimation, more than 30,000 police officers would be attached to them. As of 2022, Kenya had 109,857 police officers, meaning one police officer is to guard 688 Kenyans. The announcement on arming chiefs was heavily criticised at the time by critics, including current CSs in the broad-based government, John Mbadi (Treasury) and Opiyo Wandayi (Energy). Mbadi at the time said that Ruto does not enjoy the right to place police officers under any office; that was the work of the Inspector General of Police (IG). On his part, Wandayi called the move unconstitutional, saying that for it to happen, there would have to be a review of the National Police Service Act to implement the plan. Musamali says that the move to arm them might create conflict on the proper reporting channels, for instance, the officers allocated to the chief, will they be answerable to them or to the IG? He says that there is no provision in the constitution for the employment of chiefs, saying that the Chiefs are in office after they were given a lifeline by the Supreme Court judgment on the Finance Act 2023. According to Musamali, the easiest way to arm chiefs would be to have them recruited as police reservists, since the 2010 constitution does not envision the existence of administrators. Governance expert Dismus Mokua is of a different opinion, saying that the move to have the elders enumerated is good and that they are an indispensable proposition in Kenya's national security architecture. "They understand environments where they are domiciled and can be useful assets in the realisation of national security interests." He says that the government will need to train them so that they can have a global understanding of issues and Kenya's national and public interests in mind. "Village elders will be useful in policy communications besides supporting alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and community policing." He warns that public participation exercise needs to be effective and efficient to capture citizens' interests and aspirations in the matter of the recognition of village elders as part of the national security architecture. "Public participation must be done deliberately to align with citizens' expectations and must not be mechanical." Mokua says there is nothing wrong with the elders collecting intelligence alongside the existing intelligence agencies for the sake of the government's stability, adding that they are a key plank in creating national stability. "Folks who cannot see the four corners in a room will have challenges understanding the importance of village elders' recognition as key pillars in the national security infrastructure." As Kenyans continue to give their views, the Sh2.7 billion that the government intends to use on the elders may turn out to be another allocation to spying or for government efficiency.

Problem solvers or spies? recognising village elders

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