The provincial Administration and the infamous tag!
I have been out of this blog for quite sometime and i think for a good reason. That might be explained in future. Yesterday I read in a section of the local dailies about a debate which has always evoked emotions whenever it is mentioned- the provincial administration.
The article by one Jackson Mwalulu could not go unchallenged. To quote him he said in many parts of Kenya, District Commissioners and District Officers remain a cog of the executive wheel of impunity! They harass the villager and .....they are seen as demi gods! We need to set the records here clean. Mwalulu is still living in the shadow of yester years with several of the things he mentioned having made sense ten years ago but never at all in the present administration. Today a DC or a D.O sits in an office where the public are able to view them while in office. The villagers he talked of are now so empowered that they demand services from these administrators. Today a DC has to humbly welcome clients who are cleared from a very welcoming customer service care desk who inquires the nature of your problem then directs you to the relevant person to see at the D.O's or D.C's office. Furthermore currently most D.C's and D.O's are very highly learned fellows with several of them holding Masters Degrees from reputable institutions. So the big man mentality has long disappeared. Professionalism and indeed the signing of performance contracts have ensured that Provincial Administrators are at best servants of the people. The government of Kenya has introduced what is popularly known as the Results Based Management and the Rapid Results Initiative which have rejuvinated the civil service like never before. Moreover suggestion boxes at the D.C's and D.O's offices suggest the opposite of what was peddled by Mwalulu.
On the proposed draft constitution, the COE could never have done better than to direct a restructuring of the Provincial Administration to accord with the devolved governments. What is obvious in Kenya is that the role of the Provincial Administration cannot be gain said especially in Kenya where courts are almost barren. The Chiefs and their Assistants are the practical judges in this country. From sorting out family disputes, land disputes, drugs and substance abuse control and illegal immigrant problems to monitoring of population growth rates and all manner of things. The Chief is essentially the government in the locations. I dare say, had it not been for the Provincial Administration, several things in Kenya could not be imagined where they could be today!
What Mwalulu needs is not to revise his old notes concerning Provincial Administration but to carry a field study of the reality on the ground!