Local Government in the African Areas of Kenya
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1960.tb00178.x |
| Date | 01 July 1960 |
| Published date | 01 July 1960 |
| Author | R. Tatton Brown |
Local
Government
in
the
African
Areas
of
Kenya
by R. T
ATTON
BROWN
Senior
District
Commissioner,
seconded
to Ministry ofLocal
Government
IN
July
1955,
an
article was published
under
this heading which generally
surveyed
the
field of local government in
the
African areas of Kenya.I
In
the
four years since this article was published there has been steady though
not
perhaps spectacular progress in the development of
the
African District Councils,
progress which has varied materially between the more advanced
and
sophisti-
cated areas
and
the remoter
and
more primitive areas. Constitutionally one
very
important
step forward has been taken.
In
March
this year the Provincial
Commissioner appointed
under
his powers contained in the African District
Councils
Ordinance
the first African
Chairman
of the African District Council
of Elgon Nyanza.
The
person selected for
the
post was
the
African Vice-Chair-
man
who
had
been elected by
the
Council in the previous year.
In
this district,
therefore, the District Commissioner who heretofore has always been Chair-
man
of the Council has moved, as it were, into
the
wings
and
no longer has the
duty
of presiding over the Council. Clearly his influence must be less
and
everyone will be watching the way in which the Council shoulders its responsi-
bility without its official Chairman.
It will be noted
that
the
term
Chairman
has been substituted for the
term
President.
The
Administration considered
that
this designation was more in
line with English local government practice
and
the influence of English local
government principles still
remain
very strong.
There
are
now in
Kenya
eight financial advisers or treasurers, who
are
local
government finance officers seconded from
the
Ministry of Local Government
and
recruited by
that
Ministry from English local government. All these
officers
are
Associates
of
the
Institute of Municipal Treasurers
and
Accountants,
and
have between
them
many
years of experience in English local government.
They
have assumed the
duty
of
the
day
to
day
control of
the
financial problems
of
the
councils which they serve,
and
have provided professional guidance to
the
councils
and
their
chairmen
in the framing of financial policy.
The
financial
advisers' activities have in some cases enabled councils to make substantial
savings which have
more
than
covered
the
salaries of
the
officers concerned.
They
have
imparted
a new professionalism to
the
African district councils
and
all being experts in their subjects their expertise has usually been recognized
and
appreciated by the councillors.
It
is proposed to recruit afurther four
of
these officers,
and
the
aim
is to provide
each
council having arevenue of over
£100,000
with one of these officers.
Finances
At
the
end
of 1957 a White
Paper
was approved by
the
Kenya
Legislative
Council defining
the
financial relationship between
the
Central Government
and
the councils.
This
settlement was designed to give councils
an
overall gain
of
£IOO,OOO
and
to
grant
them
financial assistance on
the
same formulae
as those agreed in respect of other local authorities. As a result councils receive
IJ.A.A., Vol.
VII,
NO.3;
P' 123.
147
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