Three residents of Wajir have moved to court to block MCAs from vetting and approving Governor Mohamed Abdi's nominees to the County Public Service Board.
In the petition filed at the High Court in Nairobi, Ahmed Adan Hefow, Noor Abdi Abdille and Hassan Mahat Farah say the nominations failed to take into account the county's ethnic balance and rights of minority groups.
They accused the governor of conducting a flawed exercise, saying the nominations were marred with unfairness, inequality and nepotism.
“The governor, the Wajir county government and the county assembly failed or neglected to consider the unique balance and minority rights in the nominations of August 30,” they say in their affidavit.
On Friday August 30, Abdi announced he had nominated Jelle Abdi Ibrahim and Adow Osman Ahmed to be the board's chairman and secretary respectively.
Jelle is a career civil servant who was until his nomination the county director for agriculture. Adow is an auditor.
Rukia Ali, Deka Noor, Mohamud Abdi, Ahmed Hassan and Rashid Sheikh were nominated as the board members.
Their nomination follows the expiry of the term of the board's previous members. The new team will serve for six years if MCAs approve their nomination.
The petitioners say names of applications were submitted to the governor who picked his nominees and forwarded the list to the county assembly for vetting.
They have accused Abdi of failure to follow the principles and values of the Constitution while picking his nominees.
They claimed minority clans were not considered.
“That list of nominees is a clear show of discrimination and nepotism at bes. It flouted the two-thirds gender rule and does not show ethnic balance,” the petitioner said.
They asked the court to issue conservatory orders restraining the county assembly from debating, hearing, adopting and approving the report of the Appointments Committee in the event it proceeds to vet the nominees pending the determination of the matter.
The matter was certified as urgent with the court directing the petitioners to serve the governor, the county government and the county assembly.
edited by peter obuya
