Africa-Press – Kenya. Lawyers representing Nakuru county government and Governor Susan Kihika in a case challenging the appointment of county executive committees and chief officers have said the county is in a crisis.
Benjamin Magare and Daniel Kipngetich are challenging the nomination of 10 CECs.
They said the appointment was contrary to the County Government Act and the Constitution.
They sued Kihika, the county government, the county assembly, county attorney and listed the 10 nominees as interested parties in the petition.
The case will be determined on December 5.
Lawyers Peter Chege and Raydon Mwangi representing the governor and CECs told Employment and Labour Relations judge Hellen Wasilwa that it was in the interest of justice that the case is dispensed quickly.
Speaking during the mention of a case, Chege said there are no officials in the county.
He said the officials who served in the previous regime had resigned to pursue other interests.
Last week the court stopped the vetting of 21 nominated chief officers.
He said that the second case challenging the appointment of chief officers further deteriorated the situation.
“Nothing is working so far and if the case continues to delay, the county will soon be in a dire situation,” Chege said.
Mwangi Wasilwa to rule on the case as soon as possible.
The lawyers said the court had stopped the vetting which was supposed to be done by the county assembly.
“Pending the hearing and determination of an application challenging the appointments, an interim order is issued suspending any other document that notifies of the nomination for appointment of the 10 as CECs,” Wasilwa’s October 9 ruling, read.
MCAs through lawyer Steve Biko oppose the petition saying it is MCAs responsibility to vet and either approve or disallow the nominees.
He submitted that the petitioner usurped the power of the MCAs by going to court before the vetting process could commence.
“It was premature for the case to be filed in the court before the nominees were vetted by the MCAs. It is their mandate and the reason they were elected by the public,” he said.
The nominees are Nelson Tanui (water and environment), Samuel Mwangi (health), Stephen Muiruri (trade, culture and tourism), John Karanja (land and physical planning), Leonard Kipkoech (agriculture),
Others are Roselyn Wanjiru (public service management), Josephine Atieno (sports, gender culture and social services), Zipporah Wambui (education, youth and ICT), Stephen Njogu (finance and economic planning) and Michael Kamau (infrastructure).
Investors and the business community in Nakuru have also raised concerns over the continued delay in approving the CECs.
They said the move will negatively affect trade and operations within the county with several businesses solely dependent on the cabinet for approvals.
Led by George Kihara, the investors said the county was staring at losses running into billions.
Kihara said Kihika needs to be given time to govern and promote a business-friendly environment, saying short of that, Nakuru is headed in the wrong direction.
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