Uproar as Kisumu county public service board is thrown out of office

Kisumu Social Center currently housing the Kisumu Public service Board Offices was renovated at a cost of Sh5 million (Collins Oduor| Standard)

Members of the County Public Service Board have been kicked out of their officers in a raging feud with the county government.

The county government had planned to sack them before the High Court blocked it.

The members, locked out of their offices in posh Milimani estate, are now squatting at the social hall.

Board chairman Nahson Oguya insisted they are legally in office since their contracts will expire next year.

He said county askaris only moved some of their furniture to the social hall but all their equipment and documents remained locked up.

Oguya said the county government claimed it kicked them out of the offices for renovations. But the board moved to the facility only last year after renovations that cost Sh5 million.

"Our alleged relocation is ill-intended scheme and aimed at frustrating us to leave office after the court stopped the county government from terminating our contracts prematurely," Oguya said.

He added: "We cannot continue working in such an environment. Why have they locked up our equipment? The said relocation was forcible and some of our furniture and other equipment were damaged. There is more than meets the eye."

"We just only moved to the building last after renovations. I wonder why the county government would want to renovate it again. 

But Kisumu County Secretary Charles  Olang’o confirmed that they had indeed evicted the board from the newly renovated office situated in the posh Milimani estate and moved them to smaller offices at the Social Hall.

New commissions 

"The building is the property of the government. We are establishing new commissions and boards. Some of these new agencies will be housed there. The government is free to do as it wishes with its properties,” Olang’o said.

He added: “Even the building we have been moved them belongs to the government. If they want it renovated as well, they should just say so.”

Olang'o denied claims evicting the officials was part of a wider scheme to frustrate them out of office in preparation for the appointment of new one.

“Disbandment of the board was a recommendation of the county assembly. They moved to court to challenge their removal and were reinstated," he said.