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S e p a r a t i o n o f p owe r s i n K e n y a ’s d e v o l v e d a dmi n i s t r a t i v e s y s t em Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 17 Second, as has been pointed out, the CPSB is responsible for county human resource and staffing issues. The coming into effect of the County Governments Act 2012 repealed the former Local Authorities Act. An ensuing headache for the CPSBs is what to do with former employees of local governments, most of who earn higher salaries than their qualifications guarantee. Besides, these employees are currently making demands that the county governments must recognise and honour the Collective Bargain Agreements (CBA) reached under the old regime and this has caused a stand-off in the city counties of Nairobi and Mombasa. The transition clauses did not automatically transfer the staff of the former local authorities to the new county governments, yet these employees assume that under the new dispensation they automatically became employees of the county governments. Both the national and county governments have an interest in the resolution of this matter. Where the latter rejects these employees, the former through the PSC-K is legally obliged to absorb them. Third, as the national government continues to transfer more functions to county governments, some sectors and their employees are reluctant to be under county government control. The most affected sectors are education and health, notwithstanding the fact that the conditions and terms of service will remain the same. History and a sheer resistance to change have informed the key reasons for this reluctance. For a long time local units of government were run by people considered to be less knowledgeable and semi-illiterate, so the creation of county governments is seen in that light. Professionals such as doctors and teachers are therefore reluctant to be under the control of such officials. Last, there appears to be reluctance by select national officials and bureaucracies to give up certain functions to the county governments. Key among these is the management of urban and rural roads and rural electrification projects. Whereas the national officials argue that there is limited capacity to handle these functions at the county level, the county leaders accuse the national officials of crafting a plot to deny them essential resources to develop their counties and further accuse them of greed.17 Conclusion The devolution experiment in Kenya has brought with it some renewed energy in the management of public affairs. Powers that were originally centralised in one arm of the government have been dispersed to other levels of government and even within arms of the same government these powers have further been dispersed. This dispersal of powers has greatly enhanced the system of checks and balances, and promises to foster democracy in the management of public affairs. While administrative efficiency may not be achieved as fast as one may wish, the democratic values such as accountability, transparency, representation and diversity, among others, promoted through the new public service are worth the cost. In any case, leading and managing changes in public service should be expected and addressed as the two governments enhance service delivery and improve quality of life for the citizens. If devolution is conceived as a process of public sector reforms, then the tethering hiccups that are being experienced at the moment will define its future trajectory. Finally, the whole issue of capacity development for institutional strengthening and efficiency remains the focus for the PSC, especially in the executive arm of government, to work well with the other two arms of governments. Endnotes 1 See, Falleti, Tulia. (2005). ‘A sequential theory of decentralization: Latin America cases in comparative perspective’. American Political Science Review, Issue 3, pp. 327–346. 2 See, Article 6 (1) & (2), Constitution of Kenya, 2010. 3 Ibid. 4 See, Article 189 (1), Constitution of Kenya, 2010. 5 See, Article 233, Constitution of Kenya, 2010. 6 See, Section 12 (1 -3a), County Government Act, 2012. 7 See, Article 127, Constitution of Kenya, 2010. 8 See, Article 171 and 172, Constitution of Kenya, 2010. Professor Margaret Kobia is the chairperson of the Public Service Commission (PSC). She is an associate professor of management. Professor Kobia holds a PhD in human resource education from the University of Illinois, MEd from Kenyatta University and BEd from the University of Nairobi. She has taught management, entrepreneurship and research methods at university level. Her research interests include public sector reforms and performance management training. Professor Kobia is the editor of the African Journal of Public Administration and Management. Her Head of State commendations and awards include: Order of Grand Warrior (OGW), First Class Order of Chief Burning Spear (CBS) and Commonwealth Gordon Draper Leadership Award 2010. Before joining the Public Service Commission, she was director general of the Kenya School of Government. Dr Obuya Bagaka works as a senior principal lecturer at the Kenya School of Government where he is the co-ordinator for the Master of Public Administration programme. He obtained his PhD from Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the USA specialising in public administration and public policy. His main areas of interest are in public finance and budgeting, local government, programme evaluation and monitoring, public policy, and qualitative and quantitative research. Dr Bagaka’s publications have appeared in Administrative Theory and Praxis (2009), KESSA Journal (2010) and AAPAM Journal (2012 and 2013). He regularly comments in the Daily Nation on public policy matters. Dr Bagaka is a member of the Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management (CAPAM).


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