The continued interference of the work of civil servants by the political class in Kenya is particularly worrying and is greatly hampering service delivery to members of the public.
The transfer of the entire Nyeri top security team led by David Kipkemei barely nine months after most of them were posted to the county is a bad precedent set by the Interior ministry as far as the work of civil servants is concerned. What is happening in the ministry under the leadership of Fred Matiang’i is reminiscent of what happened during the Kanu regime.
But what is so special about Nyeri that no commissioner is given time to settle and serve the people? For instance, former county commissioner Fredrick Shisia who was replaced by Kipkemei was reported to have been moved after he differed with the Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu who is said to be on the ‘right-wing’ of the Kieleweke faction of government.
Surprisingly, after the recent chaos witnessed in Nyeri where some people were arrested, Wambugu said he had written a letter to CS Matiang’i to move all the top security teams for arresting his supporters. True to his word, the entire team was moved to Northern Kenya apart from Kipkemei who found his way to Homa Bay county.
Word on the street is that the man Wambugu demanded posted to Nyeri–Lyford Kibaara–is now the new county commissioner. It doesn’t require rocket science for Kenyans to know that what is happening at the Ministry of Interior as far as civil servants are concerned is a political witch-hunt.
But whether it is politics or not, the ministry shouldn’t yield to political pressure to interfere with the work of civil servants serving all Kenyans irrespective of their political affiliations.
Kericho
