More than 1,000 new administrative units created to be operationalized, PS Omollo says

The government has established 1,105 administrative units for operationalization this year.

The Principal Secretary for Internal Security and National Administration Raymond Omollo told the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security on policy matters that the units include 24 new sub counties, 88 new divisions, 318 new locations and 675 new sub-locations.

He was appearing before the team to explain the implementation and operationalization of newly gazetted administrative units.

The discussion followed the constitutional requirement, as outlined in the 2010 Constitution and the National Government Coordination Act of 2013, mandating that all administrative units must be gazetted before becoming operational.

The PS informed the committee that the Ministry of Interior is establishing a formal policy guiding this process and a Cabinet Memorandum on Guidelines for the Creation of New Administrative Units has been drafted and will soon be presented to the Cabinet for approval.

“The Ministry has been operationalizing new units based on key parameters, including security concerns, administrative anomalies, population size, and minority representation,” he said.

He added key considerations for operationalization include insecurity-prone areas with regions experiencing persistent security threats being prioritized for administrative unit establishment.

This ensures the deployment of officers to coordinate security and development efforts in volatile areas.

The ministry has also been addressing cases where a sub-county has only one division, leading to administrative inefficiencies.

In such cases, new units have been created to balance jurisdictional coverage.

Large and densely populated regions have been considered for administrative unit establishment to improve governance and service delivery, he added.

Omollo said some administrative units have been created to address the interests of minority communities and promote equitable representation. This ensures that all groups, including marginalized communities, have access to government services.

The PS assured the committee that once the Cabinet Memorandum is approved, a clear policy framework will guide future administrative unit creation.

The government’s move to establish new administrative units is seen as a step toward enhancing governance, security, and service delivery across the country.

However, a formalized policy will allow for rationalization of establishing administrative units so as to have consistency and budgetary support following the operationalization.