Councillors send members of key finance team home

By Karanja Njoroge

A financial crisis is looming at the Nakuru County Council after councillors dissolved the Finance Committee over alleged incompetence.

The councillors convened an urgent full council meeting to discuss the committee and voted to disband it during a charged meeting in the chambers.

They passed a vote of no confidence against committee Chairman, Joshua Cheruiyot, accusing him of incompetence and lacking integrity. They accused the finance team of failing to discharge its duties effectively, leading to poor service delivery.

Councillor Joel Gatimu, who moved the Motion, said Cheruiyot had failed to cultivate a good working relationship with council officials. “He has broken links with almost all chief officers at the council.”

The stormy meeting, which was presided over by Council Clerk Joseph Malinda, saw 48 councillors support the disbandment motion while 12 opposed the move.

The civic leaders, drawn from PNU and ODM, also alleged that Cheruiyot had been planting seeds of discord among communities through his public utterances.

Embarrassment

“We have been working hard to reconcile communities in Nakuru, but our finance chairman has been embarrassing the council through some of his statements,” Gatimu said.

Councillor Paul Chebor told The Standard that civic leaders acted because the finance team, which is crucial to the running of the council, had not met since August, last year.

“With an annual budget of more than Sh500 million, the council could not operate without a competent and an efficient team,” he added.

But Cheruiyot, who is also the Salgaa Ward councillor, declined to comment on his ouster, saying only Mr Malinda and Council Chairman Hezekiah Kariuki could comment on the issue.