From left to right: Marsabit County Governor Ambassador Ukur Yatani and chairman of the Council of Governors and Meru Governor Peter Munya speaking on 9th June 2015 at the Delta house. This was during a press briefing where they announced that governors were at liberty to sign the MOU with the government in relation to the medical machines in their respective counties. PHOTO BY: MBUGUA KIBERA

 

Governor Peter Munya and Speaker Joseph Kaberia have rubbished claims of rampant nepotism and discrimination in job opportunities.

Mr Munya, who is also the Council of Governors chairman, said distribution of resources and positions among the three sub-tribes (Imenti, Tigania and Igembe), has been equitable.

"No region has been overlooked. We have employed workers who meet qualification criteria, from every part of Meru," Munya said.

Martin Makasi is among political activists who have accused the executive of favouring Tigania (where the governor comes from) in county jobs allocation.

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"When you go to county headquarters, the dominant dialect is Tigania. Even parking attendants in Nkubu (Imenti South), are from Tigania. There is only one driver from Imenti South, and only one executive member," Makasi said.

County Secretary Julius Kimathi said the county has "swapped employees to foster cohesion and integration".

"All sub-counties have an executive and chief officers while the lower cadre workers, whom we inherited from the defunct county council, were swapped because we want cohesion and regional balance.

Swapped workers

Those we found in Maua, we took to Imenti, and vice versa. Maybe that is why it looks strange when employees found in Imenti are from Tigania," Kimathi explained.

On his part Mr Kaberia said the public service board had considered qualifications and regional balance while hiring staff.

He was responding to accusations leveled against the county assembly and county executive that there exists unequal distribution of opportunities among the county's nine sub counties.

Kaberia said there was regional consideration in filling up the assembly's 70 positions.

"We have six employees from Igembe South and seven from Igembe North. Tigania East has six employees while Tigania West has seven. Imenti North, where Meru town is located, has 15 employees, Imenti South has 11 and Imenti Central has six," he said.

The Speaker also said four of the assembly's employees come from Cherangany constituency in Trans Nzoia county, one from Kipipiri in Nyandarua county, and another from Maara in Tharaka Nithi county.

These nepotism accusations come at a time when the governor is still dealing with abuse of office accusations leveled against him by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.