Nairobi kicks off recruitment of Public Service Board members
Consolota Muthoni is pictured at the start of her vetting by the Nairobi County Assembly's Labour committee May 28, 2019, for the position of Public Service Board member. PHOTO | COLLINS OMULO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The board currently has just four members – chair Philip Kung’u, Chief Executive Officer/ Secretary Meshack Gutto and members Maurice Wambua and Josephine Gichui - whose terms will expire in June.
- Vesca Kangogo, Charity Kisotu and Chomba Munyi left for other commitments before their terms expired.
- According to the law, a county PSB should have seven members and achieves quorum with five.
- This means that Nairobi's board as currently constituted cannot not undertake any recruitment as it lacks quorum.
Nairobi County has kicked off the process of recruiting members of the Public Service Board (PSB), with six candidates facing the vetting panel.
Notable among the candidates interviewed are former Kakamega Deputy Speaker Abdihakim Mohamed and former Machakos County minority leader Thomas Mweu.
The two were among five candidates interviewed on Tuesday by the Assembly's Labour committee.
Other candidates are Aisha Wanjiku, Sharon Mirella, Consolota Muthoni and Jack Owino, who neither presented himself for the interviews nor submitted his credentials to the panel.
The interviews came after Governor Mike Sonko forwarded the names of the candidates to the office of the Speaker on May 8.
QUORUM
The board currently has just four members – chair Philip Kung’u, Chief Executive Officer/ Secretary Meshack Gutto and members Maurice Wambua and Josephine Gichui - whose terms will expire in June.
Vesca Kangogo, Charity Kisotu and Chomba Munyi left for other commitments before their terms expired.
According to the law, a county PSB should have seven members and achieves quorum with five.
This means that Nairobi's board as currently constituted cannot not undertake any recruitment as it lacks quorum.
Last week, Governor Sonko said he was hopeful that the county would have a full board in place by July.
PLEDGES
Mr Mohamed promised to ensure synergy and team work among the board members should he pass the interviews.
Mr Mweu said pledged to ensure that only committed and qualified individuals are employed at City Hall and to prevent hires based on relationships.
Ms Wanjiku said she would introduce proper working systems that would ensure every officer in the county is held accountable for their work while Ms Mirella called for MCAs and the Executive to let the board operate independently as per its mandate.
“The board should be allowed to work independently regardless of whether it is working with the Executive and the Assembly as it is an independent body,” said Ms Mirella.
The committee chaired by Dandora I MCA Peter Wanyoike will retreat to write a report on the approval or rejection of the candidates, that will be presented to the Assembly next week.
