The Senate has raised an alarm about a legislative strategy that aims to create total power for Kenyan governors through a process that they consider to be an unconstitutional attack on the 2010 Constitution.
The Justice, Legal Affairs, and Human Rights Committee currently examines the County Government (Amendment) Bill, which functions as an “imperial governor” design rather than a proposed reform solution.
The legislative initiative seeks to eliminate essential grassroots checks and balances, which form the foundation of decentralized governance. A coup d’état occurs silently in all 47 devolved units while the national audience concentrates on executive political battles in Nairobi.
Senators contend that the bill grants governors exclusive authority to select and remove county chief officers without county assemblies conducting their required vetting process.
The local legislators will lose all authority to monitor governmental activities if this proposal receives approval. The Senate panel, which includes astonished members who consider this bill to be a death sentence for accountability, maintains that it creates a financial gap, which will lead to the management of multi-billion-shilling county budgets by people who answer exclusively to the governor.
The county executive functions as a private entity through this administrative change, which goes beyond mere administrative adjustment.
The Senate opposition demonstrates an urgent need to stop public policy that allows governors to investigate their own wrongdoing because counties will become personal territory for governors to run their own fiefdoms. The bill creates a patronage system, which will lead to county financial destruction after it eliminates the need for legislative approval.
The committee plans to meet with the supporters of this power grab. The Senate sends an unambiguous message to Kenyans, which states that the country needs to operate without 47 mini-dictators.
The battle for the soul of devolution has moved from the streets to the floor of the House, and the stakes involve the very survival of the rule of law at the local level. The “imperial governor” exists as a real legal proposal that lawmakers currently consider.
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