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Garissa County appoints 30 chief officers amid Senate investigation

Garissa Governor Nathif Jama appearing before the Senate Devolution Committee to answer questions on the appointment of chief officers. (Photo: GPS)

By Issa Hussein | Thursday, May 30, 2024

Garissa governor Nathif Jama went before the Senate two weeks ago, where he was probed about administering the county administration without chief executives.

Garissa County Government has appointed 30 chief officers, following interviews with shortlisted applicants two months ago by the County Public Service Commission.

The names of newly elected chief officers were revealed on Wednesday and will be forwarded to the county assembly for approval next week.

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The appointment of the chief officers comes as Garissa governor Nathif Jama is being investigated by the Senate committee for devolution for running the county government without chief officials since 2022.

The Chief officers are the devolved departments' accounting officials and the designated Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) holders of money released to the county.

Garissa governor Nathif Jama went before the Senate two weeks ago, where he was probed about administering the county administration without chief executives.

During the devolution committee session, Garissa county senator Abdikadir Haji questioned whether the governor was guided by his attitude and culture in managing the county, and he also accused him of violating Chapter 11, which is one of the objectives of devolution that promotes democracy and accountability.

Senator Abdikadir informed the committee that the governor illegally promoted directors as acting chief officers ignoring the fact that chief officers were to be appointed by the county public service board and vetted by the county assembly before handling financial matters of the devolved units.

Governor Nathif Jama, told the senate committee, that he could not employ chief officers due to the hostility of the county assembly board members that he inherited from the previous administration.

"Mr Chair I served as a governor during my first term and I had no issues about appointing chief officers, currently the situation was not tenable to allow me to employ the Chief officers" he explained.

However, he struggled to explain how he appointed Chief Executive Officers for newly formed municipalities through the same county public service board.

"How come you employed CEOs using the same county public service board but were unable to employ Chief Officers, your response is not convincing," questioned Abass Sheikh Mohamed, head of the devolution committee and Wajir Senator.

On Tuesday, the Controller of Budget, Margret Nyakang'o, appearing before the Senate Devolution committee, chaired by Wajir Senator Abass Sheikh, explained the legality of disbursing cash to the Garissa county government in the absence of Chief officers to administer the funds.

She confirmed receiving names of governor-appointed individuals from the county administration as authorised personnel in several ministries.

When asked about the legality of the names because they had not gone through the due process of vetting and approval by the county Assembly, she stated that the law did not require them to inquire about the process, but that in terms of the general rule of accountability and transparency, the Controller of Budget's office will inquire and follow up.

Nyakang'o revealed that the current budget for Garissa County was Sh10.756 billion.