Mwadime under pressure from MCAs to pick county executives

MCAs have given Taita Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime seven days to appoint four executives to make his government complete.

The ward reps threatened to impeach the county boss should their demands be ignored.

Three months ago, MCAs approved only six of Mwadime's ten county executives nominees and rejected the rest.

The MCAs are also unhappy that the governor is yet to pick chief officers over six months since he was elected.

The ward representatives said they expected the governor to make fresh nominations to fill the four executive positions but he is yet to do so.

Deputy Speaker Anselim Mwadime lamented that the governor's failure to nominate four executives and 14 chief officers has derailed development and affected service delivery.

Anselim, who was joined by MCAs Jimmy Mwamidi (Wundanyi Mbale), Daniel Kimuyu (Mahoo) and Ronge ward's Dorcus Mlughu, who is also the Minority Whip, accused the governor of flouting the Constitution by failing to constitute his administration.

Article 179 (2) (a) of the Constitution states that the county executive committee shall consist of the governor and the deputy governor, and members appointed by the county government, with the approval of the assembly from among members who are not MCAs.

"The House should not be blamed for any eventuality if the seven days given to the governor lapses before he does the needful," said the deputy speaker, who represents Mgange-Mwanda ward in the county assembly.

Anselim added: "All the county governments are up and running because they have complete governments, but Taita Taveta is still sluggish about this matter."

"Even the Mombasa governor who was elected much later has already constituted his administration and has started working. It is sad that not much is happening in our county just because the government is yet to be fully constituted. The process has now started, and any further delay will have ramifications on the executive," the deputy speaker told the House on Thursday during a session chaired by Speaker Wisdom Mwamburi.

Sources revealed to The Standard that there were plans to impeach the governor if he fails to respond to the statement by Kaloleni MCA Azhar Din over the appointment of the four remaining county ministers.

"It has been over three months since the House approved six executives and rejected four nominees. The governor is yet to submit four names of executives for approval by the MCAs. This has greatly affected service delivery as some executives are holding two dockets which is overwhelming to them," said Din on Thursday.

"At the same time, the departments don't have chief officers. Things are worse because chief officers from the previous administration proceeded on terminal leave after the expiry of their terms," the Jubilee MCA said.

The county assembly's appointment committee rejected the four executives citing gender imbalance. The nominations were also skewed in favour of some regions and did not reflect the face of the county, the committee said in its report after vetting.

"Some of the nominees were not conversant with the ministries/department they were nominated to head, while others did not have the qualities to deliver services," said the committee's report seen by The Standard.

Those rejected were Peter Matano Mnene (Agriculture, Fisheries and Irrigation) Christine Mwashighadi (Devolution and Administration), Peter Mwandawiro (Public Works and Transport) and Josephine Mwatibo (Trade and Tourism).