Former Kyuso MCA Stephen Musili, who lost his seat in the August 9 election, has been offered a lifeline by Kitui Governor Julius Malombe with nomination as chief officer.
The former majority whip is among 26 nominees for positions of chief officer whose names Malombe has presented to the county assembly for vetting.
Malombe made public the list during a press conference in his office on Tuesday.
The governor also picked two chief officers Agnes Mulewa and John Kimwele who served under his predecessor, Charity Ngilu, to serve in his administration.
Musili was nominated to be chief officer for trade and industry while Mulewa who is serving as the chief officer for public service and administration was proposed to be retained in the same docket.
Kimwele who is serving in acting capacity as the economic planning chief officer was nominated to be in charge of finance, revenue management and accounting.
In Malombe’s list are Gladys Wambua and Pauline Mwalali who served as chief officers under him when he was pioneer Kitui governor in 2013 to 2017. Wambua served as chief officer for cooperatives while Mwalali was in charge of education.
Wambua has been proposed to take over as chief officer for irrigation while Mwalali would occupy the basic education docket subject to their being cleared by the County Assembly.
Serving Kitui county government officers have also not been left out. At least four of them made it to the list of Malombe’s nominees after they too emerged top during interviews for chief officers’ positions.
The four lucky county officers poised for promotion should they be cleared by the Kitui County Assembly after vetting, are Ferdinard Kathenge, Salee Kitonga, Nathan Vungo and Kamunda John.
Kathenge is set to take up the position of chief officer for tourism and game reserves, Kitonga would be in-charge of decentralised units and SEKEB, while Vungo would head the water department and Kamunda taking charge of the governor’s service delivery.
Unveiling the names of his nominees, Malombe stressed that he followed the performance ranking from interviews as provided by the Kitui County Public Service Board.
Malombe said although he had the leeway to pick whomsoever he wanted from the list provide by the Kitui CPSB, he pick those rated the best.
“In virtually all cases, I have opted to nominate for appointment those candidates that were ranked highest by the County Public Service Board,” the governor told a press conference in his boardroom.
The governor said he made the decision given the overriding essence of the recruitment of chief officers considering that they must be efficient performer who would ensure effective delivery of services.
Malombe told the media that his nomination list was well balanced as it had nine youthful nominees under the age of 37 years, adding that seven were under 35 while eight of the nominees were women.
The governor said at least one nominees came from each of the eight subcounties of Kitui.
He said the nominations were pegged on the two thirds gender rule, regional balance, and academic qualifications.
Intergenerational and diversity inclusivity and relevant experience was pivotal in selection of the chief officer nominees, he added.
The release of the nominees comes at a time when the four current chief officer who were hired by Ngilu have gone to court to stop being sent packing by Malombe.
They are seeking court orders to bar Malombe from appointing other chief officers to replace them. They are Zakayo Kimanzi, Geoffrey Changangu, Enock Nguthu and Eng Joseph Kimanga.
But Malombe said the plaintiffs only secured a conservatory court order restraining him from appointing their replacement but did not neither stop the nomination and vetting of new chief officers.
He emphasised that on the strength of the order and unless the court ruled otherwise, he would not appoint the nominees to replace the plaintiffs in the departments affected by the suit even if the Kitui County Assembly approved them.