Senators have barred Governors and Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) from branding public projects and government vehicles that promote individual identities. 

The Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, in its report, argues that branding public projects and vehicles with individual names or images translates to personalisation of public resources, creating the impression of individual ownership. 

“Such practices by Governors, Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) and any other public officers are unethical and in contravention of the Constitution, the Public Service (Values and Principles) Act, the Public Officer Ethics Act and the Leadership and Integrity Act,” said the committee in a report. 

The committee further observed that using public funds to brand projects and vehicles with the names or images of public officers amounts to misuse of public resources and goes against the principles of transparency and prudent financial management as set out in public finance management laws. 

Public projects 

To discourage Governors, MCAs and county officials from branding public projects with their personal identities, proper addressing and naming of county infrastructure needs to be implemented. 

The committee now wants the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Office of the Auditor-General, and the Controller of Budget to enforce strict compliance with constitutional and statutory provisions governing integrity, accountability, and the proper use of public resources. 

“These oversight institutions should enhance monitoring, issue clear advisories to public officers on the proper use of public funds, conduct audits and investigations and take appropriate disciplinary action against misuse of public funds for personal branding,” reads part of the report. 

The directive of the committee comes after Laban Omusundi lodged a petition at the Senate concerning the matter of branding public projects with images of Governors and MCAs and branding county vehicles. 

Portraits and images 

According to the petitioner, all County-funded projects across all 47 counties are emblazoned with portraits, images and names of Governors and MCAs, as if projects were funded by philanthropic funds by them and not taxpayers. 

“These political elites in the Counties have been allowed to massage their respective political egos and use spaces of public funded projects to advertise and brand themselves for personal political course without checks and balances,” said Omusundi. 

The petitioner further argued that Article 231 (4) of the Constitution disallows the portrait of any individual on the currency, questioning why politicians should be allowed to brand taxpayers’ funded projects with their respective portraits, images or names. 

“It is high time to reject this self-aggrandisement of using taxpayers to brand political elites’ portraits, images or names to perpetuate personal political egos contrary to article 75(1) of the Constitution of Kenya,” charged Omusundi. 

The petitioner in his prayers asked the Senate to initiate an amendment to the County Government Act, to insert a clause to restrain permanently the Governors and Ward reps from branding their respective portraits, images or names on publicly funded projects of the counties. 

“The Senate should consider amending the County Government Act to ensure that all publicly funded projects are branded as ‘Courtesy of Taxpayers of Kenya’. 

In addition, Omusundi prayed to the Senate to come up with regulations or amendments to any law in the existence to make sure that all County Governments vehicles are branded with colours of the national flag to make them easily identifiable and if the public see them being used for non-government activities, they can occupy them peacefully. 

The Devolution committee now recommends that Public officers, including Governors, Members of County Assemblies, and officials at both national and county levels, should strictly adhere to the laws guiding conduct of public officers including the Constitution, the Public Service (Values and Principles) Act, the Public Officer Ethics Act, and the Leadership and Integrity Act. 

The Wajir Senator Sheikh Abbas-led committee also recommends that when conducting audits, the Office of the Auditor-General should specifically flag any instances of branding on public projects and government vehicles that promote individual identities. 

“Such cases should be highlighted as potential misuse of public funds for personal gain, and appropriate recommendations made in line with the law,” reads part of the report. 

Restrain public 

According to the report, EACC should, within 30 days upon tabling of this report, provide a report to the Senate on the status of the interventions and measures taken to restrain public officers from branding public projects, vehicles or assets with their names, images or personal symbols. 

“All public institutions and project implementers should strictly adhere to the legal and regulatory requirements for displaying information at project and construction sites, including the National Construction Authority Site Board Guide.” 

The committee further directed that the relevant regulatory agencies, including the National Construction Authority (NCA) and the county governments, should enhance monitoring and enforcement to ensure compliance with these provisions and prevent unauthorised branding or personalisation of public projects. 

In addition, the committee called on Counties and State agencies to develop and enforce clear signage guidelines that show projects are publicly funded and owned by the government and that all signs should display official project information only without being attributed to individual leaders. In addition to the prescribed format and positioning of registration plates as provided for under the Traffic Act (Registration Plates) Rules.