Vetting of chief officers in Mandera to resume on Monday

The vetting of 33 nominees for chief officer that was stopped by a High Court a week ago will resume on Monday morning at the Mandera County Assembly.

This follows the withdrawal of one of four petitions against the county government and the consolidation of the other three.

Mr Ibrahim Barre Abdi, through Cherop and Marete Advocates, sought to drop his petition, arguing that the county government was in its formative stage should not be disrupted.

“Our client thought it wise to withdraw the matter on grounds that he wanted to allow the county government to operate in this early stage without interference,” his lawyer told Nation.Africa.

Mr Abdi said he had realised he failed to have his concerns heard in the county assembly and instead rushed to the courts.

“Mine was a premature petition and I dropped it because the county government systems are yet to start functioning, considering that we have a new governor in office,” he said.

Mr Abdi had argued that the list of nominees was illegal, unconstitutional and discriminatory. He said it violated the provisions of Article 27 of the Constitution because it excluded people with disabilities who had applied for the positions.

He had accused the County Public Service Board (CPSB) of acting unconstitutionally and illegally by creating five new offices without following due process, including seeking the approval of the county assembly.

As Mr Abdi withdrew his petition, Justice James Rika consolidated the other three petitions, allowing the Mandera County Assembly to proceed with the vetting of the nominees.

Though the court allowed the assembly to proceed with vetting, the new chief officers will not be issued with appointment letters if they are approved, until the consolidated petition is heard and determined.

“The orders in all petitions are reviewed such that vetting and approval by the county assembly shall proceed but letters of appointment shall not be issued,” Justice Rika ruled on Friday.

Immediately after the High Court allowed the process to continue, assembly Clerk Ahmed Surow placed an advert in newspapers announcing the resumption of the vetting.

Court orders

He said the court orders barring the vetting had been lifted and the process would resume on Monday.

The court stopped the process on November 23, just a day before it was to kick off.

At least 14 nominees will be vetted today and another five on Tuesday. The first batch had been vetted on November 24 before the assembly was served with court orders.

In his petition, Mr Abdullahi Mohamed Ahmed wondered how the county government appointed 33 chief officers when the national government had 51 permanent secretaries.

On September 26, the CPSB advertised 28 vacancies for chief officer and 153 candidates were shortlisted on October 26.

On November 14, the assembly clerk shortlisted 33 nominees for interviews that were to start on November 24.

Assembly committees had planned to vet at least 14 nominees on Thursday and Friday and finish with five others on Saturday.

Mr Ahmed said in his petition that it was evident that the nominations did not take into account ethnic balance, the two-thirds gender principle, people with disabilities and the youth.

“[In the] impugned list of 33 nominees, 18 are from the Garre sub-tribe, five from the Degodia sub-tribe, four from the Murule sub-tribe, three from the Corner sub-tribe which depicts tribe imbalance,” Mr Ahmed said.

He also argued that the composition of the list contravened the gender equality principle under Article 27 (8) of the Constitution as it is made up of only nine women.

He said the list had leaked to the public way before the nominations were announced on November 14, meaning it was a premeditated process.

He argued that the actions of the respondents may lead to autocratic governance, exclusion of concerned parties and loss of public confidence in the county’s leaders.

“Consequently, the governor assumed powers that he doesn't have in law purporting to appoint chief officers who are strangers in law and the extra five were nominated without due process,” he said.

“There is no evidence of an existing Executive Order to increase the positions by the governor and he assumed [the] powers of the County Public Service Board under article 235 (1) of the Constitution and [the] County Government Act.”

All the 33 nominees were cited in the petition as interested parties.
The other petitioners are Mr Hussein Osman Hassan Kinto, Ibrahim Daudi Barre, Mohamed Abdi Adan and Abdirahaman Adan Hussein.

The last three are included in one of the four petitions.