Kuti drops deputy from key docket in cabinet reshuffle

Isiolo County Governor Mohamed Kuti (right) and his deputy Ibrahim Abdi during their inauguration ceremony in August 2017. [File, Standard]

Isiolo Governor Mohamed Kuti has made changes to his cabinet and dropped his Deputy Abdi Issa from the Health docket.

The changes came a day after Dr Kuti asked top county officials to sign performance contracts that would be reviewed every 100 days.

The County Executive Committee (CEC) members, chief officers (CO) and directors of all departments signed their respective documents on Saturday where their boss said they would be fired should they fail to meet the set standards.

MPs Hassan Odha (Isiolo North) and his Isiolo South counterpart Abdi Koropu and County Secretary Ahmed Galgalo witnessed the occasion last Friday.

Their performance will be checked three times in a year until 2022 where Dr Kuti stressed that his four-pillar service charter pledged prior to last August General Elections that has four sections each must be fulfilled to enable him seek re-election from the electorates.

Saying corruption and laxity still thrives under his administration, the Governor vowed to fire officers who will be implicated in corrupt deals and fail to deliver services as expected.

In the reshuffle announced on Sunday evening, the Governor left out Dr Issa who had been the CEC for Health since the two came into office last August.

Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries CEC Muhammad Haji will be in charge of the Health docket in an acting capacity.

Mr Haji and five of the seven CECs retained their portfolios but will work with new Chief Officers who were all affected in the shake-up.

Peter Ngechu takes over as the powerful Finance and ICT docket’s as CO as his predecessor Yussuf Mohammed was moved to Water and Sanitation department in the same capacity.

New Trade and Cooperative CO is Ibrahim Challa who was replaced at the crucial Tourism and Wildlife Management department by Patrick Mambilisa

Kuti said the reshuffle is a move to improve service delivery but declined to comment on why he replaced his deputy.

Issa who said he was presiding over the launch of surgical eye camp sponsored by Mama Idado Foundation and a Turkish NGO at the time the reshuffle was being announced downplayed the dropping that took residents by surprise saying he was comfortable serving the residents as Deputy Governor.

‘‘I will from now focus all my energy to effectively play my role as the Deputy Governor,’’ he said.

Three weeks ago, during a ceremony to handover wheelchairs to Almasi orphanage that caters for the disable by an NGO, both Kuti and Issa publicly said they are in good working terms following months of speculation that they had differed.