BY SAM ALFAN.
A Kiambu voter has challenged the decision Deputy Governor James Nyoro to reshuffle the county executive.
In a petition, Benard Chege Mburu argued that on September 6 2019, Nyoro, the Kiambu deputy governor published in the Kenya Gazette a notice purporting to reshuffle of the County Executive Committee Members, swapping CECs in charge of Finance an economic planning and that of Trade, Tourism, Cooperatives and Enterprise Development.
Chege wants the court to quash the purported reshuffle arguing that Nyoro does not have such powers.
He argues that Nyoro has not been appointed as acting Kiambu governor under the law and Article 179(5) of the constitution, which allows a deputy governor to exercise the powers of the Governor in their absence.
He said section 30(4) and (5) of the County Government Act in word and spirit, prohibits the DG from re-organizing or disturbing the structure of the County Government.
Chege further adds that on August 20, the Kiambu County Attorney gave an advisory stating that the DG did not have powers to reshuffle County Executive Committee members.
“DG Nyoro is purporting to exercise powers that he does not have it in law and the unlawful acts are a recipe for untold chaos in Kiambu County as they do not have the blessings of the Governor who is likely to revise them immediately or in future,” Chege said.
He argue that the DG is not the appointing authority so he has no authority to dismiss or reshuffle members of appointed by the embattled Governor Ferdinand Waititu and any decision, requires approval of the County assembly.
“The illegal acts of the DG will create a stalemate that will gravely affect service delivery to the people of Kiambu especially as one of the dockets affected is finance,” added Chege.
He also claims that as voters in Kiambu County, they voted for a governor whom they expected to deliver services to them while the Deputy Governor is a nominee of the Governor. The petition added that the law is very clear when a Deputy Governor is a nominee of the Governor and the law is very clear when a Deputy Governor assumes the office of the Governor, a situation which has not arisen.
He has named as respondents the DG,Attorney General, Governor Waititu and CECs Francis Njenga and Wilson Kangethe as Interested parties.
The voter also claim that it is in the public domain that the DG fell out with the Governor and his action is informed by malice and vendetta.
The CECs were interviewed before nomination and vetted by the County Assembly before appointment and found to quality for the specific dockets they were appointed for.
“Reshuffling them is both unlawful as sell as a smack to the principles of good governance as no process has been undertaken to ascertain of they affected CECs are fit, competent and have capacity to execute the new mandate,” he added.
Chege argue that the decision, if allowed to the stand, would set a dangerous precedent as deputy governors would usurp the authority of governors every time the later are either sick or temporarily away and seek to replace the appointees of the governors or restructure the County Government only for the governors to subsequently reverse such acts.
