The fate of five Nairobi County Executives hangs in the balance after City Hall advertised for new applications for the positions.
This comes after the County Public Service Board posted an announcement on its website inviting applications for competent and qualified individuals for the positions.
Governor Mike Sonko is looking for people competent in Economics, Commerce, Investment, Law, Engineering, Finance and Business Administration and Natural Resources.
Interested parties can apply through this web link.
Governor Sonko notified the board of his intention to recruit the new cabinet executives through a formal request as per Article 179 and the County Governments Act No. 17 of 2012 Section 35.
“We have a formal request from the governor. The governor gave a contract to the CEC members and the contract period has expired and so he wishes to recruit at least five of them competitively and that is the reason why we have advertised.
“He will seek to renew for the ones he wants and replace the others according to the advertisement. As for now I cannot speculate who they are or even the sector they represent,” Mr Kungu told Nairobi News.
He said the governor did not give specific dockets targeted in the recruitment, explaining that when the County Executives are being hired, they are not recruited for a specific docket but for their competency.
Mr Kungu added that the current 10 cabinet executives were hired on a contractual basis and Governor Sonko, as the appointing officer, has the prerogative to either renew or terminate their contracts.
“When you are recruited you are not on the basis of a docket but as a CEC member then the governor can assign you whichever docket he feels like as he is the appointing officer,” he said.
Currently, two dockets, Health and Devolution, have no head after Ms Veska Kangogo who was heading both was suspended by Governor Sonko last month for insubordination.
The former holder of the Health docket Hitan Majevdia was also suspended in August for laxity at work.
“Let us not seek to be presumptuous. The governor can seek to replace all of them if he wants or any member he wishes. That is up to him. We really cannot question that because it is his prerogative,” said the board chair.