Nakuru to get new public service board as 5 nominated

Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui who on July 3, 2019 nominated five new members to the county's public service board. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Those nominated as members are Ms Mary Yiapan, Ms Serah Mwangi, Mr Simon Rabwet and Mr Paul Muthangya.
  • Governor Kinyanjui also nominated Ms Joyce Njeri Ndegwa as the board’s secretary.
  • The fate of the chairman, Dr Mutiti, and one other member still remains unknown.

The fate of the Nakuru County Public Service Board, whose members and secretariat had been suspended earlier this year, has been sealed after Governor Lee Kinyanjui on Wednesday nominated new members.

Governor Kinyanjui nominated four new members and a secretary to the board and forwarded their names to the county assembly for vetting.

“I have nominated the five to the board and forwarded their names to the county assembly for vetting after which they will begin undertaking their roles,” read a statement from the released by his Communications Director Beatrice Obwocha.

NOMINEES

Those nominated as members are Ms Mary Yiapan, Ms Serah Mwangi, Mr Simon Rabwet and Mr Paul Muthangya.

Governor Kinyanjui also nominated Ms Joyce Njeri Ndegwa as the board’s secretary.

The board members, its staff and secretariat had on January 2019 been suspended to allow for what Governor Kinyanjui termed as investigations into “gross misconduct”.

In April, Mr Kinyanjui extended their suspension.

COMPULSORY EAVE

Those he sent on compulsory leave in January were board secretary James Mbugua, chairman Waithanji Mutiti, members Peter Mwarania, Monica Cherutich, and Richard Tutah.

He also suspended the board’s staff and its secretariat.

While suspending the board in January, Mr Kinyanjui said it had defied instructions from the county government to stop recruitment of staff owing to findings of an audit report.

The recruitment, he said, was likely to jeopardise recommendations of the audit report conducted in 2018 and expose the county to litigation and a bloated workforce.

FATE UNKNOWN

The fate of the chairman, Dr Mutiti, and one other member still remains unknown even with a source at the governor’s office told indicating that their term has not expired.

But it is understood that Dr Mutiti and the other members have not resumed duties.

The move to nominate the five new members has now sealed the fate of the entire former board.

Mr Kinyanjui’s falling-out with the suspended board was a culmination of boardroom wars that started when he took office in 2017.

According to sources, Governor Kinyanjui has been at loggerheads with the board, which was appointed by his predecessor, Mr Kinuthia Mbugua, as he sought to establish and control his administration.