City MCA raises red flag over Kahiga being acting county secretary

A ward representative has voiced concern that all Nairobi business deals signed by acting county secretary Pauline Kahiga might be challenged in court and nullified.

Waithaka MCA Antony Kiragu on Tuesday said Kahiga should not be acting county secretary when Leboo ole Morintat is the substantive deputy county secretary.

Kiragu said this state of affairs has persisted for nine months despite the county assembly's approval of Kahiga as the Public Service Management and Devolution executive.

The MCA wants the chairperson of the Select Committee on Implementation to explain why a March 19, 2019, report of the assembly that Kahiga should relinquish her role as the acting county secretary and assume her role as the Devolution CEC has not been implemented.

Last week, Kahiga told the Public Accounts Committee that she had been transferred to the Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries docket.

Kiragu says that Kahiga is illegally the acting county secretary. "Being a county executive member, Kahiga should be performing the duties of as a CEC and not county secretary."

The executive has been acting since September 18, 2018, when Governor Mike suspended county secretary Peter Kariuki alongside county attorney Lydia Kwamboka and Health chief officer Mahat Jimale for alleged insubordination.

Kahiga had been the chief officer for Urban Planning. In January this year, Sonko nominated her to head the Devolution docket. She was vetted, approved and sworn in as the Public Service Management and Devolution CEC.

Kiragu fears that all contracts and businesses the executive has signed or transacted as acting county secretary after her appointment as Devolution CEC might be challenged in court.

He wants the office of the county secretary to be filled by a qualified person.

County Assembly Select Committee on Implementation chairman Elias Otieno, who is also the Minority Leader, promised to respond next Tuesday.

This is the second time that the assembly is raising concern over the county secretary's position.

Early in March, the assembly urged Sonko to appoint a county secretary.

"The county secretary is an important position in the county government. We cannot operate with an acting county secretary because there are some functions and duties one cannot perform in that capacity," Majority leader Abdi Guyo said.

"It's either he recalls former county secretary or appoints a new one."

Last week, City Hall announced 10 vacancies, among them that of the county secretary.

The county secretary is, among others, the secretary to the County Executive Committee and coordinator of all county functions.