Bomet ward reps kick out six executives in fresh vetting

Governor Hillary Barchok has run into his first hurdle since taking office after the county assembly on Wednesday rejected six members of his executive.

Dr Barchok, who took over after the death of Joyce Laboso, had asked the county assembly to vet nine executives afresh.

The rejection of the executives by the assembly complicates matters for the governor since he cannot conduct a cabinet meeting due to lack of quorum. The law requires that he recruits members of the executive through a competitive process.

Only three members of the executive were approved and sworn in immediately after the assembly approved them.

Soon after he was sworn in three weeks ago, the governor sent the names of his entire executive to the assembly for fresh vetting as a sign of good faith.

Approved afresh

Barchok said the decision to have the executive approved afresh was informed by his need to seek concurrence with the ward representatives in the management of county affairs.

But on Wednesday, the MCAs delayed the process for hours after divisions emerged on whether the nine should be vetted individually or as a group.

When the assebly resumed its sitting, the MCAs settled on vetting each of the nine individually.

Executives who failed to sail through are Philip Sawek (Roads, Public Works and Transport), Bernard Ngeno (Youth and Sports), Benson Sang (Water), Julius Tuei (Agriculture), Daisy Rono (Urban, Land and Housing) and Justus Maina (Administration)

The MCAs approved the nomination of Finance CEC Andrew Siri, Juliana Yegon (Education) and Joseph Sitonik (Public Health).