MCAs revoke officers’ appointments

By Nick Oluoch

Migori, Kenya: Migori County Assembly members have nullified the appointment of four town administrators in the area.

The four officers hired by the Public Service Board (PSB) in December and deployed to Rongo, Awendo, Migori and Kehancha, are alleged to have been hired irregularly.

They have been earning Sh100,000 as basic salary, Sh40,000 house allowance and Sh20,000 commuter allowance.

Yesterday, Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) terminated their jobs on grounds that the board had violated the constitution.

In a ruling delivered by the Assembly speaker, Mr Gordon Ogolla, the MCAs termed the process as illegal and irregular and called for its immediate cancelation.

They further accused the board members of acting in total contravention of the law and hiring people without considering the already bloated wage bill of the county Government and leaving little money for development. “The assembly has come to a conclusion that the constitution was grossly violated in the appointment of the officers,” he said, adding that so far, no area had been given town status by the county government.

Defence

According to the speaker, an ad-hoc committee  comprising of professionals from various sectors would be formed to confer town status on various areas within the county, something that was yet to happen and it was not clear how the board arrived at the decision to recruit before picking out areas that qualify as towns.

Ogolla said an area must have at least 10,000 residents, sufficient space for expansion, functional economic and financial ability to qualify as a town.

He therefore directed the county Treasury to suspend payment of salaries and allowances to the affected officers.

However, the PSB chairman Peterlis Nyatuga defended their hiring policy, saying they had followed the law. “The board has simply done what was required,” he said, adding that recruitment of such officers was ongoing in other counties across the country.