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Section 2 of County Governments Act: Interpretation

    

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
“analysis of functions” means processes of and mechanisms for, reviewing and reassigning powers and competencies between the national government and county governments in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution generally and in particular, the provisions of the Fourth Schedule thereto;
“apex body” means the body established under the law governing intergovernmental relations;
“appointment” includes an acting appointment, reappointment, promotion and re-designation;
“authorized officer” includes—
(a) the holder of the office of county chief officer in a county department; or
(b) in case of a department that is not assigned or under direct administration of a county chief officer, the head of that department; and
(c) any other public officer appointed by the County Public Service Board to be an authorized officer with respect to a specified public body including a city or urban area;
“Cabinet Secretary” means the Cabinet Secretary responsible for matters relating to inter-governmental relations;
“city” has the meaning assigned to it under the Urban Areas and Cities Act, 2011 (No. 13 of 2011);
“code of conduct” means any written standard issued by a lawful authority to guide the conduct of any county public officer or category of county public officers;
“competencies” means powers given to a public authority in respect of a specific activity which is key to ensuring the provision of a public service
and includes powers of planning, regulating, setting standards, constructing, financing, managing, monitoring and evaluating, sanctioning or intervening in any way to ensure that a function is discharged;
“conditions of service” includes any criterion or circumstance or factor for a person’s—
(a) appointment, secondment, deployment, promotion or discipline with respect to a public office;
(b) retention in employment as a public officer; or
(c) remunerative, retirement and other benefits;
“Constitution” means the Constitution of Kenya, 2010;
“county assembly” means a county assembly established under Article 176 of the Constitution;
“county assembly member” means a member elected or nominated in accordance with Article 177(1) of the Constitution;
“county chief officer” means a county chief officer appointed under section 45;
“county executive committee” means a county executive committee established in accordance with Article 176 of the Constitution;
“county Gazette” means a Gazette published by the authority of the county government or a supplement of such Gazette;
“county government” means the county government provided for under Article 176 of the Constitution;
“county government election” means an election of governor and county assembly members;
“county public office” means an office in the county public service or an office in a public body but does not include any office specifically exempted by the Constitution from the powers of the county government;
“county public officer” means any person appointed by the county government and holding or acting in any county public office whether paid, unpaid, or on contractual or permanent terms but does not include a person engaged on a part-time basis in a county public body paid at an hourly or daily rate;
“county public service” means the collectivity of all individuals performing functions within any department of the county government or its agency, but does not include the governor, deputy governor, members of the county executive committee and the members of the county assembly;
“deputy governor” means a person nominated by the governor in accordance with Article 180 of the Constitution;
“disciplinary control” means the imposition of any punishment against a public officer on account of breach of a code of conduct;
“GIS based database system” means a geographical information management system that integrates hardware, software and data for capturing, managing, analyzing and displaying forms of geographically referenced information;
“governor” means a county governor elected in accordance with Article 180 of the Constitution;
“input indicator” means an indicator that measures the costs, resources or time used to produce an output;
“marginalised group” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 260 of the Constitution;
“merit” when used with reference to a person who is a candidate for appointment, promotion or re-designation to a county public office, means—
(a) the abilities, qualifications and personal qualities required to satisfy any prescribed criteria for appointments in the county public service, or to carry out the duties of the county public office; and
(b) the person’s potential for development;
“outcome indicator” means an indicator that measures the quality or impact of an output in achieving a particular objective;
“output indicator” means an indicator that measures the results of activities, processes and strategies of programmes or projects of a county government;
“promotion” means the conferment upon a person in the county public service of an office to which is attached a higher salary or salary scale than that attached to the previous office substantively held by that person;
“public officer” has the meaning assigned to it in Article 260 of the Constitution;
“qualification” means any prescribed factor of eligibility or ineligibility attached to holding or acting in a county public office;
“re-designation” means the conferment upon a person, of a county public office at a grade equal to or substantially equal to the one previously held by that person and whose major consequence is to change from one cadre to the other to facilitate that person’s horizontal mobility characterized with change in career path;
“retirement” means the removal of an officer from the public service with full separation benefits including pension benefits, gratuity or such other terminal benefits as may be provided for in the applicable law or the contract of service or a special retirement scheme agreed upon between the public officer and the relevant lawful authority;
“Salaries and Remuneration Commission” means the Salaries and
Remuneration Commission established under Article 230(1) of the Constitution;
“secondment” means a temporary leave from discharging the duties of a county public office with a view of the concerned county public officer being employed outside the county public service or in another public body;
“shared services” means—
(a) the centralisation at a county or other level of those administrative functions of a county that could be performed by different units including matters such as supply chain management, human resource management, information technology, purchasing, inventory, payroll, hiring, and information technology; or
(b) partnerships between counties, a county or counties and national government and public private partnerships to deliver a specified set of public services;
“speaker” means the speaker of a county assembly elected under Article
178 of the Constitution;
“the public”, when used in relation to public participation in this Act,
means—
(a) the residents of a particular county;
(b) the rate payers of a particular city or municipality;
(c) any resident civic organisation or non-governmental, private sector or labour organization with an interest in the governance of a particular county, city or municipality;
(d) non-resident persons who because of their temporary presence in a particular county, city or municipality make use of services or facilities provided by the county, city or municipality;
“urban area” has the meaning assigned to it under the Urban Areas and Cities Act, 2011 (No. 13 of 2011);
“Ward” means an electoral unit within a constituency delimited in accordance with Article 89 of the Constitution and any other relevant law; and
“Ward representative” means a county assembly member representing a particular Ward.

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