Governor Mike Sonko has relieved 23 chief officers of their jobs through an executive order issued on Friday.
The governor instructed them to hand over their positions to directors who will perform their duties in an acting capacity before new chief officers are appointed.
The Star learned that officers' one-year contract had expired.
The governor's communication director, Elkana Jacob, told the Star, “The governor had earlier said he will not spare any lazy or non-performing staff in his administration. The hardworking ones might get their contracts renewed but the lazy ones will go home.”
The county boss has accused some of the chief officers of serving political interests, forgetting that they work for City Hall.
According to section 45 of the County Government Act, the governor can nominate qualified and experienced county chief officers from among persons competitively sourced and recommended by the County Public Service Board (CPSB).
Nairobi's CPSB has since the beginning of the year not been properly constituted.
Chief officers are the principal secretaries in the devolved units.
The Chief Officers who are like the Principal Secretaries in the National Government are the key management of the devolved units. They are policy administrators and accounting officers.
The county assembly in May last year vetted and accepted several chief officers among them Leboo Morintat (Department of Public Service Management), Stephen Mwangi (Lands), Mahat Jimale (Public Health), Frederick Nzioki (Trade) and Justus Kathenge (Urban Planning).
The others were Jairus Musumba (Devolution), Winfred Kathangu (Economic Planning), Pauline Kahiga (Urban Renewal and Housing), Lucia Mulwa (Education), Washington Makodingo (Agriculture) and Mohamed Abdi (Livestock and Fisheries).
Also vetted and accepted were the late Richard Kavemba (Transport), Fredrick Karanja (Roads), David Makori (Environment), Mohamed Abdirahman (Water), Aaron Kibet (ICT), Peter Makhoka (e-government), Anne Muenda (Disaster Management), Mude Ibrahim (Youths and Sports) and Paul Macharia (Tourism).
