Africa-Press – Kenya. MCAs will no longer arbitrarily eject county assembly clerks from their offices if a new bill seeking to safeguard the officers is implemented.
The County Assembly Services (Amendment) Bill, 2023 provides tedious procedures for removal of a clerk from office.
“The Bill proposes to provide for a procedure for the suspension of a clerk of the county assembly taking into account principals of fair administrative action,” the Bill says in part.
The proposed law sponsored by Marsabit Senator Mohamed Chute has been approved for publication by Speaker Amason Kingi before it’s introduced in the Senate for first reading.
“The Bill proposes to set out the pendency of a suspension,” the Bill says.
According to the Bill, a clerk can only be removed or suspended from office by the county assembly public service board chaired by the speaker of the assembly.
The board shall inform the clerk in writing the reasons for suspension.
The clerk shall have seven days to respond to the accusations.
“The board shall invite the clerk to appear before it on specified date to exculpate himself or herself,” the Bill states.
Where a decision is reached to suspend the clerk, the suspension shall not be for more than six months.
If enacted, the law will be a big relief to the clerks who have always faced the wrath of ward reps.
Often, they are physically ejected from their offices, sometimes on flimsy ground, declining to approve irregular expenditures by the ward reps.
The Bill also gives the clerks supervisory control over the staff of the county assemblies.
“The Bill seeks to ensure that the clerk of a county assembly exercises effective control over the staff of the assembly in order to ensure the efficient running of the respective legislation,” it states.
Further, the Bill provides for the procedures for removal of a members of the county assembly public service board.
The board, chaired by the speaker and in most assemblies, deputised by majority leader, is the top decision-making organ of the county assembly and exercises supervisory over the running of the institutions.
The board has two other members of the assembly and one member representing the pubic.
“The purpose of this Bill is to amend the county assembly services Act, 2017 to clarify on the procedure for removal of a member of the county assembly service board,” it states.
The Bill stipulates that upon receipt of a petition against a member of the board, the speaker shall submit the petition to the county assembly for investigation.
An 11-member committee shall be formed to investigate the allegations.
“The select committee shall investigate the matter within 10 days of receipt of the petition and report to the assembly whether it finds the allegations against the member of the board to be substantiated,” it states.
The members shall have the right to be represented by an advocate before the select committee during investigations.
The assembly shall consider the report of the committee and resolve whether to approve the motion.
If the assembly approves the motion, the member shall be deemed to have been removed from the board.
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