A series of planned government operations have put officials of the National Government in charge in villages hence making them more powerful.
The government has announced various exercises to take place at regional levels, which will require the involvement of these officials including chiefs, their assistants, county commissioners and their assistants.
There are also plans to give each chief five police officers to enhance their operations.
Officials say this is part of reforms planned in the department of national administration.
For instance, the government plans to release more than 20,000 prisoners from various prisons.
And to address their being in the villages and urban areas, the government will mobilise chiefs and Assistant County Commissioners and the National Government Administration structure to work closely with probation officers in the prisoners’ integration program.
The government will also reach out to religious leaders and relevant faith-based institutions to complement prisoners’ integration efforts and tap into their network of after-service programs.
As of December 5, 2022, the national prison population stood at 58,887 against a prison capacity of 34,000.
This means authorities target to release more than 20,000 prisoners, most of whom have been found to be remand inmates which now poses a challenge in providing basic needs.
The chief Registrar of Judiciary Anne Amadi said in an internal memo to all heads of court stations their attention had been drawn to an unprecedentedly high number of inmates in the prison facilities.
“About 41 per cent of this population is constituted of remand inmates,” she said.
The courts will employ the use of non-custodial sentences. These include, but are not limited to affordable fines, discharges (conditional or otherwise), reconciliations, probation and community service orders.
Of the number, 30,689 are convicted while 28,799 are inmates. And to make the government administrators more active, President William Ruto on December 12 also directed the Interior Ministry to join hands with the Ministry of Environment to increase the national tree cover from the current 12 to 30 per cent by 2030.
“Every Chief shall dedicate at least one day per week for a public Baraza cum tree planting drive in which the public will be mobilized to plant and grow at least 3,000 trees weekly, within their respective locations,” he directed.
Each Assistant County Commissioner, Deputy County Commissioner, County Commissioner and Regional Commissioner shall file monthly returns on these targets to the Ministry of Interior.
Free seedlings will be provided to the public through Chiefs, schools and other public institutions by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. All Regional Commissioners, County Commissioners, Deputy County Commissioners, Assistant County Commissioners, Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs, and Nyumba Kumi officials, will mobilize the public drive for National Tree Planting Culture.
The exercise will be coordinated at the locational level and cascaded downwards.
This programme will be implemented through the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with county governments and many other stakeholders, local and foreign.
These events among others put the officials at the center of key activities in the regions.
