Kitui assembly Speaker George Ndotto has dismissed accusations by Governor Charity Ngilu that he is a stumbling block to the appointment of the County Public Service Board.
On Wednesday, Ngilu said Ndotto had caused an undue delay to the ratification of the nominees presented to the assembly on February 14.
But the speaker, in a statement to the media on Thursday, said there was no unreasonable delay in the vetting process by the county assembly as alleged. He said the vetting and approval or otherwise of the CPSB members was a legal process and could not be rushed.
“In fact, the assembly has made a lot of effort to have the process concluded despite not receiving very crucial information from the appointing authority as well as working under very stressful times because of coronavirus,” the speaker said.
Ndotto added he was not sitting on the report of the appointment committee that was vetting the nominees as purported as it was not ready and work on it was in progress.
“How would the speaker sit on any report that is yet to be tabled for debate? The procedure is that once the committee concludes its sittings and comes up with a report, it should be tabled and allocated time for debate in the House,” he said.
The speaker was reacting to the accusation that he has failed to call a special seating of the county assembly to ratify the CPSB to enable the county to hire medical staff required in the Covid-19 war. The assembly adjourned in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The governor, who was distributing handwashing tanks and face masks to MCAs outsider her office on Wednesday, said Ndotto was personally to blame for the failure to have the CPSB in place.
She noted that the prevailing circumstances left Kitui with no option but to rely on the Public Service Commission (PSC) to hire the medical staff. She lamented the hiring by the PSC would not be just claiming the entity did not know the people of the county.
But Ndotto said there was no cause for alarm. “The PSC in Nairobi targets to hire health personnel to cover areas where over 10 CPSBs throughout the nation are non-functional.”
He stressed the need to appreciate the efforts of the PSC to ensure Kitui is not left out in the hiring of the critical personnel.
Edited by R.Wamochie
