• State-sponsored proposed law one step away from being passed by the National Assembly
• MPs also saved National Drought Management Unit staffers' jobs, which were on the line
Image: GEORGE OWITI
A House team has approved a proposal law setting a Sh1 million fine for persons found guilty of causing panic by sending a false alarm about an emergency or a warning about a disaster.
The National Disaster Risk Management Bill 2023 provides that, “A person who makes or circulates a false alarm knowingly or warning as to a disaster or its severity or magnitude leading to panic, commits an offence.”
It says that upon conviction, such a person would be “liable to a fine not exceeding Sh1m or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.”
The National Assembly Regional Development Committee has retained the clause in the state-sponsored legislation moved by Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah.
“The committee, having considered the Bill clause by clause, and submissions from stakeholders, recommends that the House approves the Bill with amendments as proposed in the schedule,” the Sigor MP Peter Lochakapong-led committee said in a report on the bill.
In the amendments, MPs have saved jobs for National Disaster Management Unit staffers, who face a shake-up should MPs pass the proposed law.
The bill creates a National Disaster Risk Management Authority to coordinate and implement disaster risk management, among other elaborate roles.
As such, staffers of the National Disaster Management Unit, National Disaster Operations Centre and County Disaster Risk Management Centres were to be sent packing one year after the law came into force.
“A public officer currently serving in National Disaster Operations Centre, County Disaster Risk Management Centre and the National Disaster Management Unit shall be deemed to be seconded to the Authority for a period of not more than one year,” the law read.
It provided that such public officers, upon the end of their contract, would either opt to return to the parent institution or apply to be considered for employment by the authority.
But in the changes, MPs have extended the period to three years, handing a reprieve to the dozens of staffers who faced job losses in the shake-up.
“The period of secondment should be three years to allow proper use of institutional memory for the authority, in accordance with best practices,” the committee said.
The proposed law also imposes a Sh10 million fine for persons found guilty of pilfering relief food and rations.
This would apply to persons who misappropriate money or goods or set aside for their own use, as well as compel another person to misappropriate relief rations.
Other hefty punishments would include such persons being sent to jail for 10 years.
MPs have also rejected a proposed body where county chiefs and Cabinet Secretaries were to jointly draw policies and approve disaster response plans.
A bloated board of directors has also been scaled down to the required nine members, leaving out some principal secretaries who were to be part of the authority’s board of directors.
“The size of the board should be limited to nine members, excluding the ex-officio member,” the House team said.
“There is the need to observe the principle of cooperation in the performance of functions of the national and county government and adhere to the requirement of independence of members of the board.”
The Intergovernmental Council was to meet at least four times a year and coordinate government agencies handling disasters.
The team was to be co-chaired by the CS in charge of disaster management and the chair of the Council of Governors.
CSs for Interior, National Treasury, Health, Defence, Public Service and Agriculture were also listed as members of the team.
MPs have, however, shot down the proposal, saying “the proposed council will be bureaucratic and the reporting structure is unclear”.
In raising the concerns, lawmakers wondered how the “more than a third of Cabinet will be reporting to the same Cabinet”.
“The arrangement may occasion delays in critical decision-making process for effective disaster risk management, more specifically, during response,” the House team said.
MPs held that the NDRM Authority would be best-placed to discharge the functions that the council was to handle.
“The proposed establishment of the intergovernmental council would distort the principle of good governance,” lawmakers said.
“And may conflict with the functions of the authority and offends the principle of cooperation between the national and county governments.”
MPs said it was untenable that of the 10 members of the council, nine are members of the Cabinet and only one member is from the Council of Governors.
As such, MPs have proposed the creation of a County Disaster Risk Management Committee for each county to be chaired by governors.
Late last year, confusion reigned over the prediction of El Nino rains as state agencies read from different scripts.