Pressure mounts on Nakuru Governor to sack 180 illegally hired employees

Civil rights activists and residents of Nakuru county took to the streets on 14/07/16 to protest against irregular recruitment of 180 workers by the county government. The protesters have petitioned Governor Kinuthia Mbugua to implement a special Report of the county assembly committee that probed the illegal hiring .PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH

Governor Kinuthia Mbugua is under pressure to implement recommendations of a committee that investigated illegal recruitment of 180 workers.

Civil society groups joined hundreds of residents on Thursday in a peaceful demonstration to Town Hall where they presented a petition to the governor.

The activists under the aegis of the Nakuru Peoples' Accountability Forum marched along Kenyatta Avenue and later joined Moi Road to the county headquarters where they presented their petition to Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama.

The protesters, who carried placards with anti-corruption messages, gave the governor up to Wednesday next week to implement the report.

The demonstrators called for the prosecution of County Secretary Joseph Motari and County Public Service Management Chief Officer Philip Sigei, who were implicated in a jobs scandal that cost the county government Sh261 million.

The report on the special ad hoc committee was adopted by the county assembly on June 29, but two residents moved to court to stop the governor from implementing it.

TEMPORARY REPRIEVE

The report had recommended the sacking of 180 workers who were illegally recruited.

Mr Motari and Mr Sigei got a reprieve after the Employment and Labour Relations Court temporarily stopped the implementation of the report.

Justice Stephen Radido issued the orders on Monday in a petition filed by Shadrack Koskey and Abraham Nyangoto.

But yesterday, the demonstrators, who were led by Nakuru Peoples' Accountability Forum Chairman Simon Nasieku and Biashara ward aspirant Hezron Manyara, vowed to continue pressing for the implementation of the report.

They said the bloated workforce at the county was frustrating development.

"We will continue to hold peaceful demonstrations every week until something is done," Nasieku said.

The governor has in the past claimed that the matter had been politicised by a section of leaders seeking to unseat him in 2017 General Election.