Deputy governors want roles defined to avoid conflicts

Deputy governors have reignited debate on the definition of their roles in law.

Following the resignation of Nairobi Deputy Governor Polycarp Igathe over what he said was not being allowed to run the administration of the county, the deputies want their roles defined to avoid conflicts in future.

The law, apart from defining the deputy governors as the principal assistants of their bosses, never really says what they should do, or the decisions they can make while in office.

“The office of the deputy governor is a constitutional one, and there needs to be clearly defined roles for them. Your role is, in principle, to help your boss deliver on their mandate. But, you see, that is amorphous,” said Narok Deputy Governor Evelyn Aruasa.

DEFINE DEPUTIES' ROLES

Ms Aruasa, who had started the push for a Bill in the Senate to define their roles when she chaired the Deputy Governors Forum, said the definition was even more urgent now following the resignation of Mr Igathe.

“It makes no sense to have deputy governors who have no roles and mandates yet most of them have impressive skills that can go a long way in transforming counties,” Ms Aruasa told Nation.

Following the re-introduction of the Bill by Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen, the deputy governors now want their issues addressed once and for all.

FLOWER GIRLS

“We want to demystify this narrative by politicians that deputy governors are flower girls. Most of these politicians are now even using these discussions to embarrass the current second-term deputies so they can get a chance at governorship,” said Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi, who now chairs the forum.

Former Transition Authority chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi argued that the lack of clearly defined roles gave governors a leeway to sidestep their deputies, who most of them see them as competitors rather than partners, in the running of the county affairs.

“Often, when governors were out of their stations either attending to business inside or outside the country, they delegated their authority to either favourite executive committee members or junior staff such as personal advisors, instead of the deputy governors,” Mr Wamwangi argued, adding that even when the deputy got the chance, the governor would still run the affairs by phone.

'WEAKLING' DEPUTIES

To guard against these ambitions, Mr Wamwangi said, the governors had resorted to choosing “weakling” deputies whom they could control, to the detriment of the county.

In the Bill in the last Senate, Mr Murkomen had proposed the creation of a forum akin to the powerful Council of Governors to aid the push by the deputy county chiefs.

“The council shall provide a forum for consultation and cooperation among deputy governors and where necessary, initiating preventive or corrective action,” reads the Bill that stalled in the Senate.

Mr Wamwangi proposed the deputy to go through a nominations.

“Deputies should be subjected to a nomination just like the governor. In that way, the governor will be forced to work with a people’s choice. Further, special management and leadership courses should be launched for all governors to ensure best management and governance practices,” he said.

MUTUA VS KIALA

Cases of deputy governors not seeing eye-to-eye with their bosses started in Machakos where Governor Alfred Mutua even engineered an impeachment of his deputy Bernard Kiala, who later ran against him in the 2017 polls.

Mr Kiala was saved by the Senate who castigated the county assembly for not following due process.

In Mombasa, Governor Hassan Joho and his deputy Hazel Katana parted ways when President Uhuru Kenyatta wooed her to join the Jubilee Party.

There were also bickering between former Kisumu governor Jack Ranguma with his deputy Ruth Odinga which started in 2015 after she accused her boss of using county funds without her being aware and also failing to include her in matters related to the county.

The wrangles went public where the two exchanged bitter words culminating into Ms Odinga saying that she would run against her boss in the 2017 elections with Mr Ranguma eventually dropping her and taking a new running mate.

WA IRIA VS MONYO

Murang’a County was not spared either as Governor Mwangi Wa Iria and his deputy Gakure Monyo engaged in battles in 2014 leading to the fallout between them.

After a disagreement on who was to attend a Hague trip in 2014, the two differed after both of them attended the trip leading to Mr Iria barring his deputy from chairing cabinet meetings and withdrawing his security car.

The latest bombshell was on Friday, January 12 when Mr Igathe resigned from his position citing a failure to earn his boss’s trust in driving administrative and management of the county.

And as it appeared in the case of Nyeri, where two sitting governors died while in office and their deputies took over, the case of choosing a weakling might backfire on not only the county chief, but also the county.

While not much thought appears to be going into the choice of deputy governors, the office carries a major responsibility in that if a governor were to resign, be impeached, or die while in office, they take over for the remainder of the term.