2 minute read
transfer stipulated in the Transition Act
adequate management of assets that eventually determine the level and quality of mandated services and citizens’ quality of life.
The Transition to Devolved Government Act 2012 (TDG 2012), also known as the Transition Act, Article 7 and Fourth Schedule, regulated the takeover of the functions, assets, liabilities, and staff from the defunct local entities after validation and audit by the Transition Authority (TA) (see box 6.1). The mandates, organization, budget, and operation of the TA suggested that the assets would be handed over to the incoming county governments by the TA after completion of the foreseen verification and validation in the short foreseeable future. This did not happen, however, and instead apparently paralyzed most incoming county governments; one can even say it also annulled the responsibility of the outgoing officers to hand over accounts, documents, and assets to the officers of incoming county governments.
Such a paralysis was less justified in Nairobi, where the handover was supposed to happen between one single outgoing body and one single incoming body and with numerous lower-level officers having uninterrupted work positions—in contrast to other counties that had to amalgamate a handful of defunct entities. Part I offers detailed institutional analysis of the legal and governance framework of transition, but it is sensible to quote a few critical elements here.
In order to reinforce high-level legislative provisos—PFM Act 2012 (PFM 2012) and TDG Act 2012 (TDG 2012)—and despite the existence and operation of the TA, the Ministry of Local Government Circular MLG/1333/ in March 2013 directed the clerks as the chief executive officers of the outgoing local authorities to ensure the proper handover of documents and assets to the incoming county governments. The outgoing officers seem to have either not noticed or ignored this circular (issued days before an election that terminated their work positions).
But the circular apparently had no enforcement provision or effective enforcement power; the officers of the defunct CCN are reported to have just walked away. Some were suspended as of election day with no options to reenter their
BOX 6.1
The mandates and competence of the Transition Authority on asset transfer stipulated in the Transition Act
Article 7, subsection (2), stipulates that “Despite the generality of subsection (1), the [Transition] Authority shall . . . (e) prepare and validate an inventory of all the existing assets and liabilities of government, other public entities and local authorities; (f) make recommendations for the effective management of assets of the national and county governments; (g) provide mechanisms for the transfer of assets which may include vetting the transfer of assets during the transitional period.”
The fourth schedule [Section 7(3)] stipulates that “(1) During Phase One of the transition period, the [Transition] Authority shall carry out the following activities—(2) audit assets and liabilities of local authorities, to establish the asset, debts and liabilities of each Local Authority; (3) audit local authority infrastructure in the counties, to establish the number and functionality of plant and equipment in Local Authorities. . . .”
Source: Transition to Devolved Government (TDG) Act 2012.
