Creating Districts Was Unwise From The Start

Date: Wed 16th September 2009

Mediahouse: Daily Nation

Page: 12


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The mushrooming of new districts that has been witnessed in the past three years will stop, at least for now, following President Kibaki's announcement that the exercise is not economically sustainable.

Precisely, this is the point that observers have made all along, but which has never been heeded. For some strange reason, President Kibaki went on a district-creation spree, arguing this was the surest was of taking services to people.

In fact, were it not because of constitutional guarantees, the President and his minders have been toying with the idea of splitting the current eight provinces to about 20. Yet, it did not need a cash crunch to convince anyone who cared to reason, that this was unwise. True, the obsession with carving new districts started with retired President Moi, whose intention was to lure votes. President Kibaki has done just that.

Paradoxically, at the time, Mr Kibaki and company who were in the Opposition, strongly resisted the exercise. One of Mr Kibaki's allies, Mr John Michuki, who later became Internal Security minister, and now Environment minister, even challenged the creation of the new districts in court.

When Mr Kibaki ascended to the presidency, the game plan changed. He went overdrive, carving new districts; Mr Moi only set up some 30 districts in 24 years, Mr Kibaki created about 180 within six years. Like Mr Moi before him, President Kibaki must have learnt that splitting districts into smaller units was a political tool at the disposal of the Executive.

Yet, creating any new district means employing more staff and more resources for operations, but with little commensurate returns. What must be done from now henceforth is to create a constitutional framework that defines systems for creating districts to eliminate whimsical and arbitrary decisions we have seen in recent years.

Already, the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission is collecting views on administrative and polling boundaries. It is only appropriate they be given a chance to conclude the exercise and give suggestions on how district, provincial and constituency carvings should be determined.

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Last Edited: Wed 16th September 2009 at 03:47:47 PM


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