Bill seeks to put village elders on State payroll

Village elders will be recruited by the Public Service Commission and paid by taxpayers if amendments to the National Government Co-ordination Act 2013 are adopted.

The elders work voluntarily and are hand picked among residents of a sub-location under the watch of location chiefs and their assistants.

The move to put them on the State payroll comes months after President Uhuru Kenyatta handed immense powers to county commissioners who are the overall bosses of the village chiefs, to the chagrin of governors.

The amendments are being fronted by West Pokot senator John Lonyangapuo in a review that will create a sixth layer in the provincial administration, whose current hierarchy includes the county commissioners, deputy county commissioners, assistant county commissioners, chiefs and assistant chiefs.

“The elders work closely with the chiefs and sub-chiefs and they have become integral to the functioning of the national government at the village level,” reads the National Government Coordination (Amendment) Bill.

“It is proposed in the bill that the village elders shall be recruited and appointed by the Public Service Commission.”

Kenya has about 6,500 sub-locations with at least five elders each, pushing their total number to slightly above 30,000.

The proposal comes at a moment when the country is racing to curb a ballooning wage bill.

The public sector wage bill is now more than half of annual tax revenue, while the International Monetary Fund puts the global benchmark at about 35 per cent.

Official data shows that three units of government, including the Teachers Service Commission, State corporations and county governments, account for more than half of the national wage bill.

Teachers have threatened to go on strike if the government fails to offer a better pay deal Tuesday afternoon.

The push for the national government to hire the elders comes as governors say they cannot hire village administrators due to spiralling wage bill and possible duplication of roles.

The position of village administrator is created by the County Government Act. The officers are mandated to coordinate county governance in the grassroots and assist in the formation of village councils.

A number of counties have left the positions vacant because of the expenditure they would have to incur on the administrators’ salaries.

The County Government Act required the village administrator to form councils composed of not less than three and not more than five competitively selected elders appointed by the officials and approved by the county assembly.

On Monday, the civil society opposed the hiring of the village elders at a public hearing before the Senate Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations despite the Interior ministry supporting the plan.

“The bill does not clearly state the roles of the village elders and their qualifications to serve are not indicated. We are not willing to pay for services we do not really understand,” said John Kiptoo, the chairman Bunge la Mwananchi.