Mombasa MCAs have, in an unprecedented move, voted against performance contracting.
A motion by Kipevu MCA Faith Mwende sought to have all chief officers sign performance contracts on behalf of their respective departments and all county staff subjected to annual staff appraisal.
The appraisal reports were to be submitted to the county assembly for consideration in a forum open to the public.
Mwende said the county is obligated to operationalise performance contracting as enshrined in Section 47 of the County Government Act of 2012.
The motion was defeated when put to the vote by temporary speaker and Junda MCA Raphael Bwire despite spirited efforts by a handful MCAs to save it. The ward reps accused county staff of under-performance.
Mwende said the failure to enforce performance contracting is a serious violation of the law and has led to losses in man hours.
“Even MCAs have a contract of five years with their voters, whom they are responsible to so that if they don’t perform they are shown the door. Why can’t our county workers be equally subjected to performance contracts?” she asked.
Tudor’s Tobias Samba, who supported the motion, said county officials were on a free leash with no visible instruments in place to hold them to account whenever they fail in their roles.
His Likoni counterpart Athman Mwamiri had tried to rally colleagues to support the motion, challenging them to stop being intimidated by the executive.
“We have protected the executive for a long time, even in instances where they don’t deserve our protection. Let us stop being afraid and stamp our authority in line with our oversight mandate,” he said.
orders from above
He said some departments have been managed by acting directors for up to three years despite the law requiring one to hold such positions in an acting capacity for a maximum of two months.
“When you ask them anything, they hide under the pretext of acting from orders from above because they are merely acting and not confirmed officials.”
Mwamiri said the county is performing badly in public participation because officials are afraid of engaging with the people.
“This trend of hiding things Mr Speaker beats the purpose of devolution, which is about taking power to the people at the grassroots level,” he said.
Motion opponents, led by Kadzandani MCA Francis Nzai, gave the examples of various programmes being undertaken by the county government. The said the projects are an indication of service delivery.
He cited issuance of titles in his ward, the digital parking project and the beautification programme as laudable projects.
Frere Town’s Charles Kitula argued that the appraisal procedure would be ineffective as no head of department will condemn the performance of his department.