EDITORIAL: Seal governance loophole – Business Daily

Legislators ought to move with speed to create a legal framework that will guide succession in counties considering the power vacuum that is being experienced in both Nairobi and Kiambu counties.

In instances where a governor is charged in court, and happens not to have a deputy, the business of the county is left in abeyance, meaning that the public cannot get the services they need and there is no mechanism that can be deployed to fill in the vacuum.

This poses risks such as poor accountability, possible loss of revenue either through theft or laxity and lack of direction where interests compete to fill the void left by the absent governor. All these board ill for both service delivery as well as democracy.

That Parliament has taken time to come up with a law to guide such succession has left counties vulnerable to sudden or drastic changes in their executive leadership, in itself a recipe for conflict.

It also does not bode well for legislators, who are also lawyers, to represent governors who are in court for cases touching on their integrity, corruption or abuse of office. There should be a clear demarcation of roles so as to avoid conflict of interest and double speak in such instances.