Kenya: Aids Body Seeks More Autonomy
By Ben Omondi
NAIROBI---In a move aimed to give it more independence in operations and expenditure as well as strength, the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) is set to introduce a bill before parliament which when passed could enable it to get its funds directly from the Treasury.
Through the proposed legislation, which has already been drafted and currently being discussed by various stakeholder groups, NACC seeks to have more autonomy in managing its affairs as well as more statutory powers.
The bill, called the Kenya National AIDS Council (KNAC) Bill, 2010, seeks to establish NACC as the national coordinating authority for HIV and AIDS in Kenya, with the body providing strategic and policy direction for comprehensive and integrated prevention and control programmes in the country.
When enacted into law and upon commencement of the proposed bill, NACC could see various transformations within its operations and structure. Key among these would be direct funding for the organization from the treasury, a break from the current situation whereby funds earmarked for NACC’s administration and programmes are channelled through the ministry of special programmes.
Ms Alice Natecho, the information, education and communication programme officer at NACC said that the council’s current budgetary allocation goes to the ministry of special programmes as HIV/AIDS is a disaster.
“Enactment of the bill would ensure that NACC gets its budgetary allocation directly from Treasury like the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC) which even though under the ministry of justice and constitutional affairs, handles its own budget,” said Ms Natecho.
Commencement of the bill, added Natecho, would ensure that NACC can not be summarily disbanded by the president as the issue would first have to be discussed by parliament.
The concerns and fears of possible summary dissolution of the council arise from the fact that NACC was established under the National AIDS Control Council Order of 1999.
“The bill is appropriate as NACC as currently constituted is very weak. Currently, NACC can be dissolved or disbanded by the president but an Act of parliament would ensure that this is first deliberated and agreed upon by members of parliament,” she noted.
The decision to have NACC under the ministry of special programmes was informed by the fact that the Kenya government declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster on November 25 1999, with NACC being established a day later to rally the country’s population around the scourge.
“The formation of the body followed the approval of Sessional Paper No 4 in 1997 which was focused on HIV/AIDS in Kenya. The Sessional Paper emphasized the need for a multi-sectoral approach in HIV/AIDS fight, with the coordination role given to a body corporate,” said Prof Alloys Orago, the NACC director, adding that this lead to the formation of NACC which was then placed under the Office of the President (OP).
“The country’s first policy blueprint to focus on HIV/AIDS was Sessional Paper No 4 of 1997 and this gave NACC three key mandates,” said Prof Orago, adding that the first was to provide the policy framework and strategic plan to rally all of the sectors in the fight against the scourge.
The other mandates, added Prof Orago, were to coordinate all players working on HIV/AIDS management and ensure resource mobilization to enable the organisations undertake their activities.
Enactment of the proposed KNAC Bill 2010 into law would transform NACC’s management in that instead of the current situation where it is headed by a director, it would have and be headed by a director-general who shall be the equivalent of a chief executive officer.
The bill also seeks to establish the National AIDS Fund into which all monies received by NACC would be paid and out of which the organization make all its payments.