Court dismisses petition against jobs board

By ERIC ABUGA

Kisii, Kenya: The Kisii High Court has dismissed the petition filed against Migori County Public Service Board and the County Assembly Board over recruitment of staff.

The court also threw out another petition accusing the Public Service Board of contempt of court.

Kisii High Court Magistrate Ruth Sitati, while making the ruling, said there were no grounds whatsoever on which to restrain or prohibit the two boards from employing or appointing persons to fill vacancies in the county.

“Today the court has given the Migori County boards a mandate to continue with their duties as usual,” Justice Sitati said.

The ruling came after 13 applicants from Kisii, Luhya and Somali communities in the county filed a petition claiming that the current hiring does not take into account ethnic composition.

They claimed said 50 per cent of the jobs in the county are currently held by Luo community followed by  Kuria (30 per cent) and Luhya (12 per cent), with the remaining being shared by the other communities.

Disband boards

The applicants had wanted the two boards disbanded and recruitment of the staff to be done afresh.

 Migori County attorney Thomas Mboya Kwanga said the two boards were now free to resume their duties.

 “Our boards are at liberty to perform their tasks and we are happy the court has considered our requests,” he said.

 Kwanga also hailed the judgement and urged the public to stop politicising important administrative matters.

 “We have been waiting for the message from the court and now it is here and everyone knows what to do after this judgment. Let the public stop politicising everything even things that can be done in-house,” he added.