NYANDARUA, Kenya, Jan 17 — A row is brewing in Nyandarua County after the County Assembly failed to vet two nominees for a second time forcing the governor, Kiarie Badilisha, to advertise for the posts afresh.
The two posts advertised last week are those of the County Secretary and the County Public Service Board.
In September 2020, the County Assembly refused to approve Frank Kanja’s nomination for the post of County Secretary.
Ward representatives said his name and that of Purity Kamuruci, nominated for the County Public Service Board, were not picked by a panel as required by law.
The Governor had constituted a panel that conducted the procedure as directed by the Assembly but when the names were resubmitted to the Assembly, two weeks ago, the MCAs led by Speaker Stephen Waiganjo reacted angrily saying that the Governor again failed to comply with the Assembly’s directive.
The Speaker urged the offices of the County Attorney and the County Secretary to ensure names of nominees for positions of the County Secretary and a member of the County Public Service Board are resubmitted in full compliance with the law.
Inadequate information
The Speaker said the names of Kanja and Kamuruci were resubmitted to County Assembly but lacked material information including the procedure used to arrive at them, as provided in Sections 6, 7 and 8 of the Public Appointments (County Assemblies Approval act 2017).
The discovery that the governor’s office had failed to comply with the said law, elicited anger among some MCAs, who said that it was a repeated mistake.
Last Friday, the positions were advertised in some print media calling for applications from people interested in the two positions.
The two nominees had served as the County Secretary and the Clerk to the County Assembly respectively under the first governor of Nyandarua Mwangi Waithaka.
In September, last year, while announcing nominees for the executive positions, the Governor defended rehiring the duo saying that being residents of the County they had a right like everybody else to apply for the jobs.
