Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 624167,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/624167/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 194,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Baiya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 8,
        "legal_name": "Peter Njoroge Baiya",
        "slug": "peter-baiya"
    },
    "content": "As to the creation of capacity for national and county government, the Cabinet Secretary was of the view that capacity building was the function of the national Government and not the county governments or the TA. On the establishment of the status of ongoing reform process, projects and programme, the Cabinet Secretary was of the view that this is not a function of the TA. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Cabinet Secretary proposed the following recommendations:- (i) The Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee as well the TA had agreed to work together to ensure a seamless handover to the technical committee in a meeting held on 13th January, 2016, that seven out of 16 members of the TA are in any case Principal Secretaries and as such, the expertise and institutional memory of the TA will be retained and available to the national Government hence guaranteeing continuity. That most of the technical staff of the TA had been there on their own secondment from the national Government and would therefore, be available if required by the technical committee. (ii) The Cabinet Secretary was proposing the setting up of an independent audit committee to objectively assess and evaluate the work of the TA with a view to ascertain the magnitude of the pending work and the timeframe it would require to finalise. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Committee also inquired from the Cabinet Secretary the constitutionality of the extension but he left it to the National Assembly. The Committee finally met with the Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Technical Committee who informed it that according to his understanding, Section 15(1) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution does not allow for the extension of the TA beyond three years. The framers of the Constitution did not envisage that the TA would serve beyond three years. As such, Parliament should not extend the three years. The technical committee is well enabled to take up the functions of the TA since it has been set up. Once the TA is dissolved, the technical committee would take over and it did not foresee any challenges in that process. The technical committee is also independent as its Members are competitively recruited and appointed by the summit. Unlike the TA which has seven Principal Secretaries, the Committee has only one Principal Secretary as a Member. As such, it is autonomous and independent. The question of determining whether or not to extend the term of the TA is to be determined by the Senate and the National Assembly. With regard to the legal question whether the time of the TA could be extended, we looked at Section 15 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution as read with Section 7 of the Act. Section 15(1) of the Schedule is quite categorical that transfer of functions should not be over a period of more than three years from the date of the first election of the county assemblies. From the national Government to county governments, the functions are assigned to them under Article 195. The principal role of the TA and Section 7(1) of the Act is to facilitate and coordinate the transition to the devolved system of Government. In view of the foregoing, the Committee observed that Sections 7 and 37 as read with Section 15(1) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution illustrate that the term of the Authority cannot be extended beyond three years from the date of the first election of county assemblies without amendment of the Constitution. It is, however, important to note that upon the dissolution of the TA, there will be no lacuna. Indeed, Section 12(b) of the Intergovernmental The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}