- The governor made the announcement even as the former NMS staff have been lamenting for being rendered jobless while demanding their pending salaries.
- Sakaja had vowed that no one will be unfairly dismissed under his watch and assured the ex-NMS staff that they will be accommodated.
Image: MAUREEEN KINYANJUI
Members of the County Assembly have adopted a report prohibiting City Hall from recruiting constables who were working under NMS.
A report which was tabled and adopted by the Nairobi County Assembly Labour Committee on Wednesday reveals that the County Public Service Board has no mandate to recruit the officers who were directly involved in recruitment.
In February, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja directed former Nairobi Metropolitan Services staff whose contracts have expired to report to City Hall and apply for permanent county posts.
The governor made the announcement even as the former NMS staff have been lamenting for being rendered jobless while demanding their pending salaries.
Sakaja had vowed that no one will be unfairly dismissed under his watch and assured the ex-NMS staff that they will be accommodated.
The 700 enforcement officers who were hired in 2021 by defunct NMS had staged protests following a letter by the County Government’s Chief Officer for Security and Compliance Tony Kimani saying that the workers will be relieved of their duties following the expiry of their contract.
In the letter dated February 3, 2023, Kimani requested the officers to report to Dagoretti Training College, and asked them to carry their working tools, including uniforms, and ceremonial dressings ‘for further instructions’.
However, the assembly's labour committee took up the matter upon itself to probe the matter.
In its findings, the committee revealed that the Public Service Commission recruited the enforcement officers, and cadets under Nairobi Metropolitan Service, yet the security and compliance sector was not a transferred function.
It was also established that the County Public Service Board was never involved in the recruitment as the body mandated to recruit officers of the county executive
"The contracts for the said officers expired in November 2022 following the expiry of the deed of transfer," reads the report.
Also, it was discovered that the county service board was not aware of the budgetary allocation in the county to cater for the salaries of the said officers in the Financial Year 2022-2023.
"The county board was not in receipt of the list of all officers recruited by NMS and proposed for absorption," read the report.
Following the findings, the assembly resolved that the cadets were recruited by the PCS whereas the county establishment does not have such cadres
Also that the county is under no obligation to absorb the enforcement officers or any other officers recruited under the defunct NMS unless the departments have requested the county board.
The cadets were recruited by the PCS whereas the county establishment does not have such cadres.
The assembly resolved that the PSC did recruitment for the inspectorate on contract and that the county service board was never involved in the exercise as the body was mandated to recruit officers of the county executive.
"Therefore the cadets should be redesignated by the national government and not City Hall," read the report.