Sagala ward Member of the Taita Taveta County Assembly, Hon. Godwin Kilele, has today sought a statement from the Governor and the County secretary through the County Assembly chairperson committee of Justice, constitutional, Legal Affairs, Labour, Employment, Trade Unions and Social welfare on ejection of Mwatate Municipality Board chairman and a board member.
Hon. Kilele said on 2nd August 2018, the county assembly vetted Mr. Martin Tairo and was also approved on 24th August 2018 having fully satisfied the requirement of a board member while three other members were rejected by the assembly, therefore, forcing the exercise of constituting the board to take longer till its conclusion mid- 2019.
The legislator said recently Mr. Tairo was relieved of his duties as the chairman of the municipality board together with another member for having failed to attend a meeting called by the governor despite sending his apologies due to corona pandemic and cessation of movement in and out of Nairobi but the governor handpicked another chairman to replace him with no communication to that effect, to date.
He said the existence of the current board raises legal issues which may affect its collaboration with key partners including Urban Development in the Ministry of Transport and infrastructure and the world bank since the Urban Areas and Cities Act( UACA) amendment of 2019 requires the board to have a representative duly nominated by professional associations, a minimum education qualification of a diploma for a board member while that of the chairperson to be a degree from a recognized university in Kenya with a post qualification experience of 10 years. The current handpicked chairperson and two board members do not possess the qualifications.
Hon. Kilele asked chairperson committee of Justice, Constitutional, Legal Affairs, Labour, Employment, Trade Unions and Social welfare to furnish the house with the following information:-
- What law did the Governor use to appoint the current chairman who is not even a degree holder?
- Why was the name of the current chairman handpicked not forwarded to the County Assembly for vetting?
- A breakdown expenditure of Ksh. 50 million that has been allocated by the World Bank under Kenya Urban Support Development Program for the construction of Toilets, street lights and road to the Governor’s office noting that the department of public works is requesting for Ksh. 2.2 million in the supplementary budget for the construction of the same road.
Contributing to the statement sought, Mwanda Magange ward Member of County Assembly Anselm Mwadime said it was unfortunate to see young energetic people being appointed only for a short period, and they get fired for no clear reasons.
“Mr. Speaker, Tairo is a hardworking young architect who has received honours in his line of work and we had faith that Mwatate municipality was destined to grow very fast since we had a qualified person to chair the board but suddenly the Governor has quashed the dream of the municipality,” complained Hon. Mwadime.
Speaker Maganga Meshack Maghanga ordered the committee to provide sufficient answers sought by Wednesday next week.