No youthful nominee for CEC slot as Kisumu County Assembly approves list.

 The first session of the Second Kisumu County Assembly where a total of 48 MCAs were sworn-in in September this year-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo.

By Dickson Odhiambo.

December 1, 2017.

No youthful nominee for CEC slot as Kisumu County Assembly approves list.

The Kisumu County Assembly has unanimously approved a list of ten people without a youthful person to be appointed and sworn into office to work as the County Executive Committee Members in the executive wing led by Governor Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o.

The list which was approved on Thursday this week has seven males and 3 females but non fall in the age bracket of between 18 to 35 years which defines a youth.

According to a copy of the report by the Appointment Committee of the County Assembly of Kisumu in seen by this writer and was presented for the debate and approved, the ten nominees are in the age brackets of about 45 to 54 years hence no one is 35 years and below.

During the debate, the issue of youth missing as nominees for the Position of CEC emerged strongly with a section of members of the County Assembly claiming that the youth have been given a raw deal without getting any slot for the county’s Executive cabinet.

A number of MCAs during the debate said the issue of youth not being represented is not a good one and should be addressed but later approved the list wholly.

The 13-member Committee on Appointment led by the Kisumu County Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo earlier vetted the ten nominees before bringing back their report to the Assembly for debate and approval.

The Committee on Appointments is established pursuant to the provisions of the Standing order Number 187 of the Kisumu County Assembly Standing Orders which bestows the committee with the mandate of vetting nominees proposed by the Governor to various positions of the County Executive Committee Members.

Consequently, Kisumu Governor Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o notified the Assembly of the nominees for appointments to the various departments in his Government vide letter reference number dated CGK/GBN/ADM/2017/VOL1/37 dated October 27,2017 and the Governor’s notification was tabled before the Assembly on Tuesday November 7 at 02:30pm.

The Speaker of the County Assembly of Kisumu Onyango Oloo then committed the notification of the nomination to the Committee on Appointment to conduct approval hearing/vetting and prepare a report on the suitability of the candidates to be appointed to the office to which the candidate has been nominated. Vetting was then done thereafter at Kisumu’s Aga Khan Hall recently.

The ten who have been vetted and approved by the County Assembly of Kisumu hence awaiting appointment by Governor Nyong’o include John Obiero Ogone to be in charge of Education, Information and Communication and Human Resource Development, Alice Moraa for Business, Energy and Industry, Thomas Ondijo Owiti for Public Works, Roads and Transport, Nerry Achar for planning, Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Gilchrist Fulbert Owuor Okuom for agriculture, Livestock, food and fisheries.

Others include Salmon Orimba to be in charge of Environment, Water, Irrigation and Natural Resources, Richard Dick Ogendo for Economic Planning and Development, Dr. Rosemary Obara for Health and Sanitation, Achie Ojany Alai for Tourism, Culture, Arts and Sports and Robert Kennedy Ouko Onyango to be in charge of Finance.

Article 179{b} of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 mandates the Governor to appoint the County Executive Committee Members with the approval of the Assembly while Section 35 of the County Government Act of 2012 provides for the procedures used by the Governor when nominating members of the Executive.

The ten CEC nominees now wait to be sworn in so as to assume their offices officially anytime from the time they have been approved by the County Assembly.

Transform Empowerment for Action Initiative {TEAM} Executive Director George Collins Owuor has congratulated the Governor for having forwarded the list which has been approved by the County Assembly of Kisumu unanimously.

However, Owuor says the list needs to be recalled by both the County Assembly of Kisumu and the Kisumu County Public Service Board claiming that the list is not all inclusive.

“It is very much important for the Governor and the County Assembly of Kisumu to know that when it comes to procurement of services and Human resources 30 percent must go to the youth, people with disability and women hence to me this list is unconstitutional and must be looked very keenly,” he says.

He says it is high time the list is made all inclusive by ensuring that it is in line with the spirit of devolution and Article 10 of the constitution which talks about the Principle of National Values.

ENDS: