Machakos MCAs turn blind eye on Chief Officers nomination illegalities, approve 26

Machakos County Assembly Friday approved the appointment of 26 nominees as Chief Officers. This is despite the process being marred by glaring illegalities and irregularities listed below;

Advertisement of 24 slots for chief officers but later appointment of 27 people. This means 3 positions were not advertised, and the shortlist from the County secretary also had 23 departments.

Secondly, The list submitted to the County Assembly for vetting is said to include people who never applied for any of the advertised positions and were never shortlisted in the respective department. For instance, Gideon Mbithi the nominee in the Department of Inspectorate and Fire Fighting was not shortlisted in the department candidates, below are those shortlisted;

Vincent Musili the Chief officer nominee in Culture and Tourism was also not shortlisted in that department. Mutunga Anthony was also not shortlisted in the lands docket, Metho Benson was also not shortlisted in Environment Docket but in a different department, and Kanyae Bruce Isika nominee Youth Department.

The list of nominees did not meet the two-thirds gender rule, only 3 out of 27 nominees are women.

The interviews of the Chief officers were also carried out by the County Public Service Board which did not have a chairman or secretary and lacked a quorum. After the impeachment of 4 members of the board and the resignation of one member in November 2022, only two members out of 7 remained in office. A selection panel has since been constituted to recruit board members and the positions advertised.

It was expected that Machakos MCAs would point out the glaring irregularities and illegalities during approval and vetting. However, that did not happen. Bribery allegations were also present but Mauvoo News could not independently verify the said bribery of MCAs to approve the nominees.

Gazettement was also done immediately raising more questions about when it was done but it is dated 6th January.

Missed our earlier story on the list of Machakos Chief officer nominees? Check it out below;