Parliament gives Transition Authority a lifeline

The National Assembly has rejected a proposal by Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru that would have seen the Transition Authority (TA) replaced with a committee.

Parliament granted TA a lifeline after members opposed the changes contained in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2013, forcing Majority Leader Adan Duale to withdraw it.

The Bill proposes the deletion of Section 37 (1) of the Transition to Devolved Government Act 2012, which defines the functions and period TA will be in existence.

"Delete and substitute therefore the following new subsection – the (Transition) Authority shall stand dissolved upon the establishment of the Inter-Governmental Relations Committee under the Inter-Governmental Relations Act," the bill reads in part.

When the amendment came before the Committee of the whole House, it was rejected, with MPs arguing it was part of attempts by the Executive to frustrate devolution. James Nyikal (Seme) wondered why the Executive was keen on disbanding the authority, yet it had not achieved its functions as spelt out in the Constitution.

"The greatest aspect of our constitution is devolution. All the functions that were supposed to be done by the transitional authority such as assessing the capacity of county governments are still pending. We cannot come at this point and say that we are doing away with the authority," he said.

MPs argued that since the role of the authority is embedded in the Constitution, removing it would render the Act superfluous.

"There is a misplaced belief that the intergovernmental relations council can replace it. The council deals with coordination with various levels of Government," said John Mbadi (Suba).