State to hire 706 new county administrators

Mombasa County commissioner Nelson Marwa (left) with deputy county commissioners and other officials at a security meeting last September. PHOTO | FILE 

By ALLAN ODHIAMBO, aodhiambo@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• PSC on Wednesday invited applications for the position of assistant county commissioner cadets who will serve in the counties under the Interior and National Co-ordination ministry.
• The recruitment of the administrators has frequently sparked supremacy wars with governors claiming that they undermine county governments.
• In the new structure county commissioners are the national government’s spokespersons in the devolved units.

The Office of the President is set to deploy an additional 706 administrators to counties in the latest bid to expand its national network despite protests by governors.

 recruitment of the administrators has frequently sparked supremacy wars with governors claiming that they undermine county governments.

Through their national lobby, the governors have maintained that a county should have only one chief executive at a time even as the President’s office maintain its officers handle national issues only.

The first appointment of county commissioners by retired President Mwai Kibaki in 2012 triggered a series of court battles with those opposed to them demanding the scrapping of the position.

President Uhuru Kenyatta last May launched a new policy that placed county commissioners fully in charge of functions of the national government at the grassroots, including tackling terrorism, poaching and drug abuse.

READ: Uhuru says county commissioners here to stay

In the new structure county commissioners are the national government’s spokespersons in the devolved units.

“As the President’s direct appointee, the power of the office must not only be projected and felt through the office of the county commissioner, it must be seen in the county commissioner. Nobody in the county should have a second doubt as to who the presidency’s representative and head of government at the county level is,” the policy document which outlines the radical proposals reads in part.

According to the policy, governors not willing to work with a particular county commissioner will have to get the greenlight from the electorate before such an official can be moved.

They will, however, have no authority over the county commissioner, since the roles of the two are well laid out.