Restructuring the Provincial Administration: An Insider's View

In 2010, on the cusp of Kenya’s new constitutional dispensation, SID embarked on a project called "Thinking, Talking and Informing Kenya’s Democratic Change Framework". Broadly stated, the objective of the project was both historical and contemporary: that is, to reflect on Kenyans struggles for a democratic order through a book project, and to examine the significance of a new constitutional order and its legal and policy imperatives, through a Working Paper Series.

Consequently, SID commissioned research on some of the chapters or aspects of the new constitution that require further policy and legislative intervention, culminating in ten Working Papers. These papers, mostly by Kenyan academics, are intended to help shape public discussions on the constitution and to build a stock of scholarly work on this subject.

Below is an abstract from Working Paper No. 3 "Restructuring the Provincial Administration: An Insider's View", published by the Society for International Development (SID), Regional Office for East & Southern Africa. The author of this paper is Dr. Obuya Bagaka. 

"Although critics of the Provincial Administration argue rightly that it has been corrupt, repressive and unaccountable, the 2010 Kenyan constitution has accorded it a deserved but not necessarily desirable level of recognition. Under the new constitution,the Provincial Administration will play complex and indispensable administrative roles than ever before. It will coordinate inter-ministerial duties, manage the relationship between the national and county governments, and monitor the implementation of national policies and utilisation of funds. However, it must focus on service provision, downward accountability, and advance public interest rather than self or regime interests, stay above inter- and intra-governmental conflicts, to remain relevant.