Elgeyo Marakwet county governor Alex Tolgos yesterday suspended all his nine chief officers for allegedly being unproductive.
Tolgos ordered the chief officers to proceed on compulsory leave because they had underperformed in coordinating county government operations.
He said operations of the county government had been aff ected by the poor performance of the offi - cers who are accounting offi cers in various departments.
He said many of the offi cers were ineffi cient and failed to perform their duties well. The county boss said the chief officers had failed to pay contractors yet money had been allocated for the same.
“We have money to pay the contractors yet the chief offi cers keep on delaying payments,” said Tolgos who was speaking at his office in Iten town.
He said the chief officers earn salaries and use county resources but fail to discharge their duties.
He said inspection of government projects had also suffered from the inept officers. The suspended chief officers include Jeremiah Changwony (Finance and Economic Planning), Caroline Magut (Youth, Sports, Gender and Social Services), Ishmael Chelang’a (Health Services) and Titus Ayabei (ICT and Public Service).
Others are Boaz Chang’ach (Water, Physical Planning and Natural Resources). Chang’ach also doubled as CO Education and Technical Training.
John Cheboi (Public Works, Roads and Transport), Netty Jemutai (Tourism, Trade, Cooperatives and Energy) and Pius Cheserek (Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries) were also kicked out. Meanwhile, Tolgos has expressed disappointment after feuding MCAs at the county assembly shot down a bill meant to empower women, people living with disability and youth in the region on the grounds that it was sponsored by a female nominated MCA.