CIVILIAN OVERSIGHT: TANA RIVER COUNTY

Civilian oversight is the process through which citizens supervise functions and decisions of the Government or Government officers in service delivery and the implementation of the Constitution. Article 1 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 provides that all sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and may be exercised by the people either directly or through their democratically elected representatives.

The Constitution has empowered the citizens to monitor the exercise of the authority by providing various avenues for participating directly in making decisions that affect them and overseeing the excesses of the government.

Citizens are open to various channels through which they can achieve their oversight role as contemplated in the Constitution. These include:

1.    Petitions

2.    Public participation

3.    Public attending assembly sittings and committee meetings

4.    Written Memoranda

PETITIONS

Sections 15 and 88 of the County Governments Act, 2012 provides that citizens have a right to petition  the County Assembly to consider any matter within its authority including enacting, amending or repealing any legislation.

A petition means a written prayer to the County Assembly by a member of the public requesting the County Assembly to consider any matter within its authority, including enacting, amending or repealing any legislation.

Petitions may take the following forms—

(a)   Administrative petitions

These are petitions that raise complaints concerning an institution, government ministry or department. Members of staff or the public may petition to the County Assembly in case they are aggrieved by the activities of the institution.

(b)   Assembly petitions

Article 196 (2) of the constitution of Kenya, 2010 provides that a County Assembly shall facilitate public participation and involvement in the legislative and other business of the Assembly and its committees.

An Assembly petition is a petition requesting the County Assembly to consider any matter within its authority, including enacting, amending or repealing any legislation.

(c)    Recall petition

A Member of County Assembly may be recalled if they are found to have mismanaged public resources or convicted of an electoral offence under the Elections Act. The procedure of a recall petition is as provided in section 46 of the Elections Act which further provides for the form and content of the petition.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Participation of the people is recognized in article 10 of the constitution as one of the values and principles of governance. Article 174(c) of the constitution further states that the object of devolution is to enhance the participation of people in the exercise of the powers of the state and in making decisions affecting them.

Public participation is the process where the County Assembly engages the public in decision-making and gives full consideration to the public views in making decisions. It affords stake holders the opportunity to influence decisions that affect them.

Section 207 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 provides that the county government shall facilitate the establishment of modalities, and platforms of public participation.

The County Governments Act, 2012 provides in section 91 that the County Government shall facilitate the establishment of modalities, and platforms for citizen participation.

Public participation in the County Assembly

Article 196 of the constitution provides that the County Assembly should facilitate public participation and involvement in the legislative and other business of the assembly and its committees.

Specific areas that require public participation

1.      Legislative process/policy and Law-making

Article 196(1) (b) of the constitution provides that a County Assembly shall facilitate public participation and involvement in the legislative and other business of the assembly and its committees.

2. Planning and budgeting for county public services

The law provides for public participation in planning and budget making by the County Government under section 115 of the County Governments Act, 2012 and Section 207 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.  The planning and budgeting process is provided in section 125 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 to include:

(a)    intergrated development planning process which shall include both long term and medium term planning;

(b)   planning and establishing financial and economic priorities for the county over the medium term;

(c)    making an overall estimation of the county government’s revenues and expenditures;

(d)   adoption of the county fiscal strategy paper;

(e)    preparing budget estimates for the county government and submitting estimates to the County Assembly;

(f)    approving of the estimates by the County Assembly;

(g)   enacting an appropriation  law and any other laws required to implement  the county government’s budget; and

(h)   accounting for and evaluating the county government’s budget revenues and expenditures.

The responsibility to facilitate and report on public participation in the County Assembly is on the speaker of the County Assembly and chairpersons of various committees of the house.

Conclusion
Civilian oversight is not just a right—it is a responsibility. Citizens have the power to influence governance and demand accountability. Through petitions, participation in legislative processes, and active engagement with the County Assembly, the people can ensure that their government remains transparent, inclusive, and responsive.

PEOPLE DEMAND FREEDOM OF SPEECH AS A COMPENSATION FOR THE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT WHICH THEY SELDOM USE.

In a day where social media has risen close to being the most dependable media, I would ask bloggers and Social media users to practice responsibility time and again. People should know where to draw the line….

Article 33 (1) (a) of the Constitution of Kenya (2010) provides for the freedom of expression. however,  Article 33 (2) prescribes the limit to freedom of expression. it states that the right to freedom of expression does ...not extend to
a) Propaganda for war;
b) Incitement to violence;
c) Hate speech; or
d) Advocacy for hatred that; (i) constitutes ethnic incitement, vilification of others or incitement to cause harm or (ii) based on any ground of discrimination as per Article 27(4).

Section 132 of the penal code states: “Undermining authority of public officer Any person who, without lawful excuse, the burden of proof where of shall lie upon him, utters, prints, publishes any words, or does any act or thing, calculated to bring into contempt, or to excite defiance of or disobedience to, the lawful authority of a public officer or any class of public officers is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.”

The other infamous charge is ‘misuse of licensed telecommunications equipment’ under the Kenya Information and Communications Act. Under its section 29, “a person who by means of a licensed telecommunication system sends a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character or sends a message that he knows to be false for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another person commits an offence. The offence is punishable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand shillings, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both.”

A cardinal rule of criminal responsibility under the Penal Code is stated under section 7 which provides that ignorance of the law is neither defense nor that is allow someone to break the law. Let everyone use social media responsibly.

THE ROYAL POKOMO NATION (RPN) AT A GLANCE

The Royal Pokomo Nation potrays a legacy of division, hatred and shagged out dreams. You may be asking yourself, is it that bad? yes it is that bad... so bad that it may cause a repeat of 2013 (come on, you know what happened in 2013)

Several seeds have been planted over the years by many people, from politicians, council of elders, professionals, opinion leaders and even youths. Some were seeds of nourishing grain but some were seeds of virulent seeds. In fact most were not seeds at all but rather the seeds of venomous reptiles and stinging insects.

Over the years, those seeds have germinated and those eggs have hatched – and we have harvested the products of both; but our harvests of hatred, division, ‘kietism’ and unabashed lies have exceeded, one hundred fold, our harvests of oneness, progress and integrity in public life. The progeny of the seeds of weeds and the eggs of snakes and toxic insect plagues have come to define us as pokomos!

It is no doubt that the seed of ‘udzuu na unsini’ was planted and well watered before 2013 and it cost us dearly. We lost all the seats. Who ever imagined that the largest tribe in Tana would loose all the seats save for some 5 MCA seats (elected plus nominated) out of 26 MCA seats.  While we capitalized on trivial issues like past historical injustices that we cannot even prove their authenticity or perhaps committed by people who are not affected by the repercussions of our divisions, the opponents took advantage of vulnerability and formed a united front against us. And the nation paid a heavy price.

After loosing the elections, we acted in a manner to suggest that we had realized our mistake and were keen on correcting it. We sung ‘sikuye’ to signify that 2017 is not far and we are going to unite and take over Tana River County leadership as a united pokomo. And the nation appeared rejuvenated, and there was new hope and world-beating optimism. And we knew it would not be be business as usual; do you remember the time when pokomo united stood in solidarity with Mandela when he was arbitrary detained? But that was just a delusional respite from the tedium of the life we were used to! And the stinging insect of deceit and double-speak hatched in overwhelming inglory! Perhaps People were preaching water while taking wine?  factually, the tree of insicerety and betrayal was liberally showered with waters of disillusionment, a volatile mix that catastrophically exploded last year.

In the words of Abraham Lincolin “you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. As we approached the elections, our true colours came out. The more we neared the electioneering period the more divided we seemed. In 2016, the egg that would hatch into the viper of hatred was laid. however there was still hope as the nation looked at the gasa for direction. As much as people had interests, they were hopeful that the gasa and or the aspirants would unite them by giving direction or rather a line up. Several meetings were held at YWCA, Friends Motel, Voi and Hola primary in a bid to get one candidate per seat. The final try was at the famous basket of hope where we laid yet another egg... the egg of ‘udzuu na unsini.’ The tree of dialectal differences was strategically planted sheltering the weeds of ‘kietism.’

Since then, the RPN was defined by insults, hatred, name-calling and mockery. Everyone was judged based on where he or she came from. Die-hard supporters resorted to attacking some ‘vietis’, villages or regions as a way of selling their candidate of choice other than selling their candidates manifestos. RPN Bloggers showcased their writing skills by posting propaganda and spreading hate against the other camps and personalities. The politics of personality, sycophancy, praise-singing and ‘unswerving loyalty’ were elevated to new levels and everyone forgot about the plight of the nation. (the status quo has been mantained to date, can you imagine?).


Sadly, everyone forgot about the uncelebrated heroes who tried their best to ensure unity of the RPN. We forgot the efforts of the people who had sacrificed their time and resources to salvage the RPN ship from sinking by moving from one village to another preaching unity. We suddenly forgot about the professionals who had spent hundreds of thousands to fund the council of elders who were expected to give direction. We forgot all the efforts to save our people who are currently in jail for fighting for the nation. There was a lot of effort to achieve unity, but in the toxic political environment, we forgot about all these efforts. We have forgotten about everyone who put effort and our love or hate for one another is based on which camp one belongs to. As is naturally human in the circumstances, we did not see the village beauty’s dimple’s but only the pimple on the tip of her nose.


The 2013 loss did not knock us back to our senses- we hugged the pain, we nurtured the anger, we nourished the bitterness, and we cynically mined and exploited the tragedy for our political selfishness. And from this has emerged an RPN with great divide. A nation that is blessed with intelligent minds and numbers, but neither calm nor peaceful; a nation with immense prospects but little hope.

Pokomos are in need of inspirational leadership. We are in need of a leader that shall resolutely reach across the divide even as his hand may be repeatedly slapped aside. We are in need of a leader who knows he may have won the election, but he must now win all the people. We are in need of a leader that will do what needs to be done to unite the pokomos.


Pokomos are in need of a great leader –  one that will reject hatred based on vietis; A leader that will show us that indeed the old is gone and we are truly a NEW AND UNITED POKOMO NATION. Yes , we are in need of an avant-garde leader, an open-minded person, an intrepid captain; a Governor that we will appreciate. Going to canaan does not only mean taking over TRC leadership but also uniting the RPN.  We need a leader who can unite us. Who is that leader? #ISupportPokomoLiberation #UnityIsKey #LoveNurtersUnity#Nahujamaneni