Mugo defiant over health ministry roles

Kenya's Public Health minister Beth Mugo on Saturday stepped up the turf war between her ministry and that of Medical Services, declaring that a professional body that she set up was legal.

Mrs Mugo urged the Institute of Nutritionists and Dieticians to start work and ignore the order by Medical Services minister Anyang’ Nyong’o that the Interim Council of the Institute of Nutritionists and Dieticians stop registering nutritionists and dieticians immediately.

Prof Nyong’o ordered, through an advert on Tuesday, that the registration of the two cadres should only be done by the Transition Committee for the commencement of the Nutritionists and Dieticians Act 2007 in his ministry.

“I would like to clarify that the registration of the two cadres should be undertaken by the above committee...

“On the other hand, the Interim Council of the Institute of Nutritionists and Dieticians, chaired by the senior assistant chief nutrition officer in the Public Health and Sanitation ministry is illegally registering the two cadres,” Prof Nyong’o warned.

He instructed the interim council to dissolve the committee and refund any money paid by individuals.

On Saturday, Mrs Mugo insisted that the Interim Council of the Institute of Nutritionists and Dieticians was a legal entity. “I would, therefore, like to urge the council to carry on with its activities,” the minister said.

The Medical Services minister and his Public Health and Sanitation counterpart are locked in a battle for control of departments in the two ministries.

In February, Prof Nyong’o wrote to Mrs Mugo complaining about alleged interference in the same department.

The letter was copied to Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Civil Service Head Francis Muthaura and PSs in both ministries.