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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Governor Mutua suspends ministers in a surprise move

Money & Careers

By Erastus Mulwa | Mar 11, 2020

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has suspended two ministers in his cabinet in a surprise move which has also seen dozens of other senior officers in his government sent home for alleged poor performance.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Mutua said he was compelled to take the action in order to improve service delivery for residents of Machakos as well as weed out corrupt and inefficient officers.

Those affected have been directed to immediately surrender all government benefits at their disposal including vehicles and laptops and to keep off from the precincts of county government offices during the period of suspension.

The purge has affected Francis Mwaka, who is the Minister for Trade, Industrialization and Innovation and Kimeu Kimeu who is in charge of Public Service, Quality Management and ICT who both have been suspended for two months on half salary.

In the changes, Mwaka’s counterpart in the Tourism docket, Ruth Mutua takes over his duties in an acting capacity while county secretary, Grace Munguti will assume the duties of Kimeu, who has been suspended from the Public Service docket.

At the same time, Mutua also dismissed the chief officer in charge of Special Programs, Research and Development, Michael Maina.

Other members of Mutua’s cabinet who have been served with warning letters include Urbanus Musyoka (Agriculture) and Titus Kavila (Decentralised).

The purge also targeted three chief officers, Carlos Kioko (Youth and Sports), James Mutunga (Forensics and Inspectorate Services) and Joel Mwova (Ag Medical Services).

Kioko and Mutunga will stay away from their duties on half salary for three months while Dr Mwova stays away from duty for two months on half salary.

Dr Mutua has assigned the acting chief officer for Tourism and Culture, Victor Muniafu duties previously held by Kioko while chief officer for Public Health, Lucas Mwove will perform Dr Mwova’s duties.

The governor lamented that despite having empowered his cabinet and chief officers to efficiently undertake their respective duties, some of them had failed to meet his expectations and those of the residents of Machakos.

“This institutional and deliberate empowerment requires government officers to stay focused on delivering their respective mandate without having to be reminded always,” Dr Mutua said.

Mutua also cautioned public officers from absenteeism and absconding duty. “It is unacceptable for public officers not to come to work when I am in meetings outside Machakos or out of the country,” he said.