Local authorities usually differ from divisional and constituency boundaries used by the state administration.
Under the former act of parliament local authority administration consisted of a mayor, town clerk and councillors.
The number of councillors depended on population and area of each authority and they were elected by the public during the Kenya general elections held every five years or by-elections held in between.
Compared to many other countries, local authorities in Kenya were weak and are shadowed by state run administration.
[1] However, during the international Africities summit held in Nairobi September 2006, the Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki promised to strengthen local authorities.