MCAs reject Mwangaza's nominee for county attorney

 Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza during Madaraka Day celebrations at Kinoru stadium. [File, Standard]

Meru Members of County Assembly have rejected Governor Kawira Mwangaza's nominee for county attorney.

Select Committee on Appointments chaired by Speaker Ayub Bundi rejected Cosmas Muinde Njoroge as the county attorney nominee, after Governor Mwangaza, through County Secretary Kiambi Atheru, forwarded his name to the assembly for vetting.

Committee vice chairperson Karimi Guantai who presented the report said due process was not followed in the nomination of Njoroge.

Guantai said despite the county attorney nominee meeting the minimum requirements the committee found that he exhibited limited administrative knowledge, experience, ability and expertise necessary to serve in the office.

Seven committee members rejected Njoroge and asked Mwangaza to nominate another individual.

But five MCAs allied to Mwangaza linked the nominee's rejection to tribalism and politics.

They argued that Njoroge met the requisite requirements, one of them being an advocate of the High Court.

"The committee may, though not expressly stated in the report, have considered the tribe of the nominee and used this as one of the grounds for his rejection. To this end we reject the recommendations of the committee as tribe should not be used to prejudice the nominee," the five wrote in the minority report.

Muna accused MCAs of playing tribal politics.

Some of the MCAs who rejected Njoroge said the position should have gone to a member of the Meru Bar Association (MBA).

"If this young man is a qualified lawyer why do we sit here and disparage the qualifications of a person who has gone to school and presented himself fully before this assembly and then instead of coming out with a clean heart and saying 'maybe due to the background of politics we don't want to approve the nominee', we hide behind the shenanigans that do not help us as a county?" Muna posed

He urged MCAs to shun tribal politics.

"I have heard arguments that this young man doesn't originate from this county. We have a County Executive Committee (CEC) member from Meru working in Nyeri, we have an MCA elected in Nairobi, we have a nominated MCA in Nyandarua county. Nobody is raising that concern. I would be politically wrong but I hold my ground that whatever we shall do to this young man is due to politics," he said.

Majority Leader Patrick Mutuma argued that the recruitment process lacked transparency and competition, even as he said the position should have gone to a lawyer based in Meru.

"Thirdly, this Meru we have so many learned lawyers and experienced lawyers who can serve (in) this position," Mutuma said.

His sentiments were echoed by Patrick Ntululu and Mutembei Mbiuki who said a local lawyer who understands the dynamics in the county was suitable to take over as county attorney.

"I sat in the panel that was doing the vetting and I was able to interrogate the nominee. The nominee confessed he was born in Huruma, Nairobi, he has been brought up in Nairobi and has practiced in Nairobi. So it is common sense that the nominee has no basic idea as pertains the dynamics of this county," Mbiuki said.

"We have MBA that is composed of 300 members who are registered here, people with a lot of knowledge, people who are conversant with whatever transpires in this county, but none of this big population was accorded this opportunity," he added.

Ntululu said: "The (Meru) bar association has an approximate 300 members who are qualified, able, and Mr Speaker, given the different dynamics that are present in this county, it is very unfortunate that we go all the way to look for someone who does not even understand, maybe if that committee (had) continued to interrogate the nominee, he could have even contested that probably it was his first time in Meru."

Majority Whip Jim Muchui said the committee found that the nominee exhibited limited knowledge of topical and administrative issues touching on the county attorney.

"Lest we be mistaken for tribalists, I want the people saying that we are rejecting the nominee simply because he is not from Meru to understand that even the 200 and something of the lawyers practicing in Meru are not (all) from Meru. The ones who have written the affidavits before this house urging us to reject this nominee are not all from Meru. There are so many from other communities. I have seen so many Luos, Kikuyus, Luhyas who have law firms in Meru. Even if the Governor picked any of those as an assembly we will never have a problem because they are people we have lived with," he said.

"This House, at least in our time, shall never allow ourselves to be a rubber stamp. We don't want a puppet as an attorney. The legal fees are accumulating every day and we need an independent person, not someone from a hole somewhere," Muchui added.

Mwangaza who has had a number of nominees rejected by the assembly in the past was disappointed by the turn of events.

"I will keep on forwarding names. They (Assembly) are saying he is Kikuyu. Next time will forward Masai, Kalenjin, Jaluo. I will never be tribal," she said.