Top priorities for Kitui County under Ngilu’s leadership

Many times it has been said women are their own worst enemies but with the just concluded general elections in the country, the statement gears to losing justification. Women contested for various political offices and both men and women voted for them and some are headed to be the county bosses.

Kitui County is among the counties that have embraced women leadership by electing Charity Ngilu as the governor. Ngilu was competing against the incumbent Dr. Julius Malombe and the veteran politician, David Musila. She is among the first three women to be elected as county governors in Kenya.

As Ngilu takes over the leadership of the county, the people of Kitui are preparing for change - both positive and negative. She faces accusations of being nepotistic and her coming might shake the human resource.

Nobody works with a human resource that is not regime friendly. The outgoing governor, Dr. Malombe has also been accused of awarding ‘his people’ top county jobs and unbalanced recruitment within the county.

In her campaigns, Mrs Ngilu has been quoted saying that she will reassign responsibilities or fire staff in the administration as majority are unqualified and have nothing to deliver to the county. Notably among the people in the administration have been her political rivals for long and she’s likely to send them home at her earliest convenient.

Dr. Malombe’s leadership has been criticized for employing personnel that are not qualified for the job given to them. Majority of employees particularly in the senior and middle level positions have no prerequisite qualifications, competencies and experiences a factor that has derailed service delivery to the people and lack of professionalism in the county. Personally, I can attest to this. In her first days in office, it’s expected that Ngilu will weed out these unqualified personnel and bring on board people who have the capability to deliver.