Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo has sponsored a bill that seeks to establish an act of Parliament to provide for the procedure and guidelines for home addresses and naming of streets, public places in counties.
The objective and purpose of the Act is to establish and maintain a comprehensive and reliable National Addressing Framework in Kenya, create and manage a National Addressing System, assist individuals in securing a legal identity through addressing.
She argued that logical and consistent addressing system is a critical component of any county government’s service delivery system, in particular it encourages and enables e-commerce, eases identification of streets and public places.
“The act seeks to promote the provision of public services including postal and courier delivery, tax and revenue collection and emergency service delivery through easier identification and navigation, provide a framework for the establishment of an addressing system for every county so as to enhance location and identification of various places within counties,” said Dullo.
The bill seeks to enhance e-commerce through the establishment of a source of all property street addresses, enhance timely and effective responses to emergencies by ambulance, police and fire services by ensuring proper naming and signage of county streets and public places.
The bill seeks to provide a framework for the determination of names of street and public places within counties and provide a framework for the preservation of a county’s history and commemoration of persons who have made notable contributions to the county and the country.
“In this regard, the main objective of this Bill is to provide for procedures and guidelines for creating a county addressing system and for this purpose, naming and addressing of streets and public places in counties,” said Dullo.
The Isiolo Senator said that if the Bill she has sponsored is passed by the Senate it will improve service delivery at the county level and will aid in the modernization of the counties just like it was happening in other parts of the world.
The bill also seeks to establish a framework for standardizing the acquisition, processing, analysis, storage and dissemination of address data required to sustain and enhance national development, promote better planning for essential services such as water, electricity, communication facilities.
The bill recommends the establishment of the National Addressing Council which shall consist of the principal secretary responsible for matters relating to land who shall be the chairperson of the Council, the principal secretary responsible for matters relating to planning, the principal secretary responsible for matters relating to roads and transportation and the principal secretary responsible for matters relating to internal security.
“The Council should have representative nominated by the National Lands Commission, the representative nominated by the Council of Governors who shall be the deputy chairperson of the Council, the Attorney-General and the Registrar who shall be the secretary to the Council and an ex-officio member of the Council,” states the bill.
The functions of the Council shall be to advice and make recommendations to both levels of government on matters relating to addressing, provide strategic direction on all matters relating to addressing, facilitate alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for matters referred to it by the Office of the Registrar.
Senator Dullo recommends that the Council shall render decisions based on the reports and recommendations of the Registrar and the County Committee and perform any other function relevant to the execution of their mandate.
The bill recommends the establishment of an Office of the Registrar of Addresses which shall be an office within the public service with the Registrar deputised by three Deputy Registrars not more than two of whom shall be of the same gender.
The Office of the Registrar shall oversee the implementation and be responsible for the enforcement of this Act; establish, manage, maintain and act as custodian of the National Addressing System; coordinate use of shared infrastructure at both national and county levels for the purposes of proper implementation of this Act and implementation of a robust and secure National Addressing System.
“The Registrar shall facilitate alternative dispute resolution mechanisms on disputes arising under this Act; coordinate with national and county governments to ensure that all addressable objects in Kenya can be identified by an address allocated under this Act; provide advisory services on matters related to the addressing to the national and county governments,” states the bill.
The Registrar shall develop and implement guidelines and standards for addressing in Kenya; monitor the implementation of standards for addressing at national and county government levels; coordinate with county governments to input address data into the National Addressing System.
The Registrar shall collect and store address data from national and county governments for the purpose of maintaining an accurate and complete National Addressing System; manage access to National Addressing System; enforce compliance with addressing under this Act;
The Registrar shall recommend to the Cabinet Secretary to publish any reasonable fees in the Kenya Gazette as may be deemed necessary for the proper administration of this Act and perform such other functions as may be prescribed by any other law or as necessary for the promotion of objects of this Act.