Bracing For The Big Takeover
The County Government of Laikipia is bracing itself for a takeover of all functions that have remained under control of some national government agencies contrary to constitution.
Top on its list is the function of electricity reticu- lation (distribution) and collection of the 2 per- cent Catering Levy despite which Constitution of Kenya 2010 explicitly says are functions of County Governments.
It is most likely that Laikipia is going to be a pi- oneer in taking up the function of electricity re- ticulation. Despite the existence of clear provi- sions of the law on the functions of the different levels of government, Kenya Power has contin- ued to operate an electricity distribution system in the county.
Under the Constitution of Kenya 2010 which transformed the governance of the country from centralized to devolved system, the functions of energy policy and energy regulation have been assigned to the national government while those of electricity and gas reticulation as well as county energy regulation have been assigned to the county Governments.
Under the Fifth Schedule of the Energy Act, the County Governments functions include county energy planning, county energy regulation and county operations and development.
Laikipia is currently creating an organization- al structure that will enable it perform all the functions assigned by the constitution. This involves putting in place the relevant laws, corporations, structures and infrastructure to enable it undertake the roles.
The organizational structure will be respon- sive to functions spelled out by the constitu- tion. For instance, it has already established directorates of Energy and Mining.
The County Attorney Mr Alexander Muche- mi said the County is in discussion with Ken- ya Power on how it could execute its constitu- tional mandate of electricity reticulation.
The county Government would be happy to take over all electricity distribution infra- structure within the county previously invest- ed by and belonging to the national govern- ment to facilitate smooth transition
Mr Muchemi said.
Catering Levy
The county is also targeting the Catering Levy which is collected by the national gov- ernment through Tourism Fund.
In October last year, Governor Ndiritu Muriithi told a committee of parliament that the national government was collecting the Laikipia County Attorney Alexander Muchemi levy yet it is a function assigned to the Coun- ty Governments.
The Fourth schedule of the constitution which distributes functions between the na- tional and county governments includes elec- tricity and gas reticulation and energy regu- lation as a function of the county govern- ment.
It also provided under the Fourth Schedule of the constitution that the National Govern- ment is responsible for tourism policy and development while trade development and regulation including local tourism, are func- tion of the County Governments.
Despite clear provisions of the Constitution, the Tourism Regulatory Authority has con- tinued to regulate tourism activities and Ser- vices County wide.
