Nyeri's Wamathai in a fresh war with MCAs over county executive committee jobs

juma chrispinus

March 2, 2017 10:12 AM

If a vacancy arises in the office of the county governor, as death of governor, county executive members cease to hold office.

A new twist on power is looming between Nyeri County MCAs and the newly sworn in governor Samuel Wamathai, over operations in the county.

Wamathai is facing a fresh revolt from MCAs, who have vowed to reject his nominees, allegedly retained from the late Gachagua’s best pick.

Speaking immediately after his swearing in on Wednesday, Wamathai said he was intending to maintain the late Gachagua's cabinet. Gachagua passed on last week at Royal Marsden Hospital in London where he was undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer.

The 2010 constitution Chapter 11 on Devolved Governments, cap 179 on County executive committees, however, does not allow the retention of the cabinet.

“If a vacancy arises in the office of the county governor [death of governor, as in Nyeri] , the members of the county executive committee appointed cease to hold office,” the constitution reads in part.

In a heated debate on the budget committee report on Wednesday, on the annual development for 2017/2018, the MCAs maintained that the county executives will have to undergo fresh vetting.

The stand by the MCAs is constitutionally right as the newly elected governor must make fresh appointments, owing to the ceasing to hold office for the county executive following the death of their boss.

The deputy governor, is also an appointee of the governor, and only takes office upon the death of the governor, or in case the governor is impeached among other constitutional provisions.

Majority Leader and Budget committee chairperson Duncan Gituanja tabled the report on Annual Development Plan (ADP) in which he noted that most of the proposals in the document should be scrapped because they were a duplication of projects that the county executives had failed to implement.

"We support the new Governor Wamathai but we must change the manner in which county has been operating, and the first step is to seek new leadership in county affairs," Kirimukuyu MCA James Kibira told the parliament.

Nyeri County loses mca

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