City Hall operations grind to a halt after Sonko's latest move

gloria mari

May 21, 2018 5:15 PM

Trouble in City Hall.

Governor Mike Sonkos delay in appointing chief officers have brought critical services within City Hall to a halt.

The names of the officials were approved by the county assembly over two weeks ago.

This comes after Sonko's surprise nomination of Miguna Miguna as deputy governor.

He has been facing constant criticism over the poor state of Nairobi's roads, security and increasing cost of living.

According to The Star, Public Appointments (County Assemblies Approval) Act, 2014 requires a governor to appoint the nominees within seven days from date of assembly approval.

MCAs approved 20 out of the 22 chief officer nominees on May 4.

Chief officers are like permanent secretaries in a ministry.

The governor is expected to issue appointment letters of the approved nominees through the county secretary within days of the MCAs approval.

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County Public Service board chairman Philip Kungu said, "We hope the letters will be ready in the next three to four days...but, this is the work of the governor, not us."

The approved nominees were called for a meeting at City Hall on Tuesday but the meeting did not take place after the guests were told Sonko was meeting the president on the Nairobi regeneration project.

"We have not received any communication since Tuesday and we now don't know what is happening," a nominee said.

The names of the approved nominees are:

Justus Kathenge (Urban Planning)

Pauline Kahiga (Urban Renewal and Housing)

Jairus Musumba (Devolution)

Winfred Wangoi (Economic Planning)

Lucia Mulwa (Education)

Washington Odingo (Agriculture)

Mohamed Abdi (Livestock and Fisheries)

Richard Kavemba (Transport)

Fredrick Karanja (Roads)

David Makori (Environment)