Nairobi Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi has sent back to Governor Mike Sonko the name of his nominee for a deputy, saying he followed the wrong procedure to nominate her.
Elachi on Friday said the governor failed to follow the guidelines developed by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in nominating Anne Mwenda.
“I have sent the name back to him because I did not want to go ahead with the vetting and then be told that we did not follow procedure,” Elachi told the Star.
The governor nominated Mwenda on January 6 and sent the name to the speaker for vetting as advised by the Supreme Court in March 2018.
Mwenda is Nairobi City County chief officer disaster management and coordination.
But Elachi said she sought the advice of IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, who informed her of the guidelines that were developed by the commission soon after the Supreme Court's advisory.
The rejection will further delay the filling of the position, that has been vacant since January 2018 when Polycarp Igathe resigned.
It will aggravate the crisis in the capital which has been on autopilot since December last year when Sonko was arrested and charged with the loss of Sh357 million and subsequently blocked from accessing his City Hall office and performing functions of that office.
The guidelines, which were communicated to the county bosses through their counsel on June 18, 2018, state that when nominating a deputy, a governor is required to submit a nominee’s name to the commission.
The commission then appoints a returning officer who shall vet the nominee as provided for in the Constitution and the law.
According to the guidelines, the electoral agency considers a deputy governor to occupy a political seat. Therefore, filling it should follow standard procedure.
The nominee, Chebukati says, must meet the qualifications as stipulated in the Leadership and Integrity chapter of the Constitution.
"... it logically follows that such nominee must satisfy the Constitutional and statutory qualifications attendant to that office as contained in the Constitution and the Elections Act, 2011,” Chebukati said.
After the vetting, the commission shall issue the nominee with a nomination clearance, a copy of which is forwarded to the governor.
The governor will then forward the nominee’s name to the county assembly for vetting, deliberation and possible approval.
If approved, the speaker shall forward the name to the commission in writing with recommendations approving the nominee to the office.
The commission shall then publish the appointment of the deputy governor in the Gazette notice.
“The commission shall also notify the Chief Justice who by law is expected to appoint via the Kenya Gazette the Judge or chief magistrate before whom the deputy governor nominee may take his or her oath of office in accordance with the County Governments Act, 2012,” Chebukati says in the document.
Edited by R.Wamochie