•The county secretary is the backbone of all Nairobi public services.
•Also Brian Muithya, Francis Cheptumo, Abdinoor Mohamed, Patrick Lumumba and Ilhan Ahmed are among the shortlisted candidates.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
Former Nairobi County CEC for Finance Pauline Kahiga is among 14 candidates who will be vetted on Tuesday for the County Secretary position.
In a public notice on Tuesday, the 14 candidates will be vetted at Ngong Hills Hotel on Tuesday by the Nairobi County Assembly vetting committee.
Also, the current County Secretary Jairus Musumba has been shortlisted for the position.
Others facing the vetting committee include Nancy Ounfo, Susan Jemuge, Leonard Kinyulisi, Nancy Chelengat, John Ntoiti, James Ochami and Dorcas Kemunto.
Brian Muithya, Francis Cheptumo, Abdinoor Mohamed, Patrick Lumumba and Ilhan Ahmed are among the shortlisted candidates.
“Candidates are required to produce clearance certificates from the required institutions,” read the notice.
The county secretary is the backbone of all Nairobi public services.
Sadly it has had a high turnover, with occupants exiting controversially over among other accusations, corruption and incompetence.
Between 2013-2022, Nairobi has had 9 county secretaries.
The first appointee under devolution was Lillian Ndegwa who was picked by former Governor Evans Kidero in 2014.
A year later, in April 2015, Ndegwa was suspended after she was charged with defrauding the county of Sh17.9 million with colleagues Regina Chepkemoi and Nancy Waithera.
She was accused of stealing the money from the county’s account held at Co-operative Bank’s City Hall branch.
Ndegwa was forced to step aside after being mentioned in a report released by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
She was among other ex-City Hall officials, including Kidero, facing court charges over the loss of Sh213 million.
The crime is said to have been committed between November 1, 2013, and December 3, 2014.
Gregory Mwakanongo, who had been the Finance executive took over in an acting capacity after Ndegwa's suspension in 2015.
In January 2016, Kidero officially appointed Robert Ayisi as county secretary. Ayisi had been the county's Health chief officer.
Health problems edged Ayisi out of the hot seat. He was replaced by Leboo ole Morintat in an acting capacity.
Leboo served in that position until Kidero was defeated by Mike Sonko in the August 2017 general elections.
In 2018, Sonko picked Peter Kariuki, an experienced executive, from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office to be the county's third secretary.
Kariuki was head-hunted from the OP's Project Delivery Unit.
But on September 4, 2018, Kariuki was arrested but released unconditionally for disobeying court orders issued against the county by Justice John Mativo.
In December 2017, Justice George Odunga issued a warrant of arrest against the county secretary for disobeying orders that directed City Hall to pay a firm for services it rendered to the county.
Following the arrest on September 18, Sonko suspended Kariuki alongside three top county officials for "insubordination" over the Pumwani Maternity Hospital saga.
Pauline Kahiga, the then Chief Officer for Urban Planning, was appointed in an acting capacity as Kariuki's replacement.
On April 1, 2019 Kahiga was sworn in in a private ceremony as the Devolution CEC and still in an acting capacity as the county secretary.
Even before she had sat pretty in office, Kahiga was arrested by anti-graft agency detectives for allegedly hiding documents in graft investigations at City Hall.
After that, the former Chief officer for Devolution Leboo Morintat took over in an acting capacity then succeeded by the Ex-Chief officer for Urban planning Justus Kathenge and now in office is Jairus Musumba.