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County assembly signs deal to get advise on new laws


The Nairobi County Assembly has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Legislative and Intergovernmental Liaison Office that will offer technical advice on Bills to ensure they conform to Constitutional provisions.

The liaison office is based in the Deputy President’s office and will also be responsible for uploading to its website legislation generated by all county assemblies, the National Assembly and the Senate.

According to Korir Singo’oei, the head of the department, county-generated legislation may be in conflict with the Constitution or the national laws necessitating reviews.

“What we’ve done today is to try to forestall the emergence or the existence of that conflict. It’s a very costly process for the county to go back and forth to secure this Constitutional and policy compliance.”

Dr Sing’oei said that they would offer advice from the Bill’s formulation to passing to ensure it’s a sound document.

“Rather than wait until the tail end of the process; we are saying that while the Bill is still being formulated, we will be able to engage in that period and together with the office of the Attorney General, the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) and the Kenya Law Reform, provide an advice to the county assembly to ensure compliance,” he added.

Nairobi County Assembly was recently forced to make amendments to the Ward Development Fund Act that was only several weeks old after the Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo and CIC chairman Charles Nyachae rejected it on grounds that it was not in compliance with the Public Finance Management Act.

Dr Sing’oei expects the website, which will provide access to Bills and Acts from the country’s 49 legislative bodies, to go live by end of June.