Busia Town management committee nominees rejected by assembly

The county assembly has rejected a proposed list of nominees to serve in Busia Town Management Committee.

A report tabled by the Planning, Trade, Tourism, Cooperative and Industrialisation committee said the nominees were not interviewed, neither is it clear how their positions were advertised.

The report further indicated that the candidates, who were purportedly nominated to represent special umbrella groups, were not aware of the same.

“The appointment process of these nominees is in doubt because it appears not to have been competitively done which makes the whole process flawed,” said committee chairman Vincent Obisa.

The nine nominees presented to the planning committee include Naomi Apali, Henry Khalende, Peter Kabii, Hellen Mukanda, Fredrick Dindi, John Omwenge, Deogracious Otwani, Lilian Chacha and Elias Mahaga.

New process

Mr Obisa said the recruitment exercise does not meet the threshold spelt out in the Public Appointments Act of 2011 hence the need to declare it null and void to pave for a repeat of the entire exercise.

“Pursuant to Section 7 of the Public Appointments Act 2011, Section 13 of the Urban Areas and Cities Act No13 of 2011 and in conjunction with the general spirit of the constitution of Kenya, the committee recommends that the county assembly disapproves the nomination and subsequent appointment of all proposed members of the Town Management Committee,” the report concluded.

Speaking to the Press after the session, Speaker Bernard Wamalwa said the list was rejected due to various factors including regional imbalance, qualifications and anomalies in the selection process.

“I will write to the governor to officially inform him of the decision reached by the assembly so that he can forward a fresh list of nominees since the current one has too many anomalies,” he said.

In their presentations at the House, various MCAs thanked the Obisa led committee for “bringing justice to county residents by nullifying a list of impunity”.