County secretary Pauline Kahiga in trouble over Assembly letter
Nairobi county assembly majority leader Abdi Guyo (centre, in red T-shirt) and other MCA's address a press conference at Sai Roc Hotel on September 12, 2018. The MCAs have threatened to oust acting county secretary Pauline Kahiga over claims of incompetence and arrogance. FILE |
What you need to know:
- Acting county secretary Pauline Kahiga fell afoul of ward reps after she wrote a letter they said was arrogant.
- She said in the letter that county executives and chief officers would not honour a Budget Committee summons.
- She explained that the summons were given on short notice and the officials had other things to do.
- MCAs have called into question her competence and asked her to furnish them with her credentials.
Acting Nairobi County Secretary Pauline Kahiga is facing imminent ouster over allegations of incompetence and having “a negative attitude.”
A section of assembly members have threatened to remove the embattled administrator from office accusing her of high-handedness and failing in her duties.
SKIPPED
Trouble started for Ms Kahiga when she skipped the Finance, Budget and Appropriations Committee sitting that was summoned to discuss the Finance Bill on Wednesday last week without an apology, forcing an adjournment.
Minority chief whip Peter Imwatok expressed displeasure over the behaviour of the official, intimating that he might be forced to marshal support from the assembly to initiate the impeachment process.
“Will I be wrong if I invoke section 44 (6) of the County Governments Act on your removal from office over incompetence and marshal support of two-thirds of MCAs?” Mr Imwatok posed.
Ms Kahiga replaced Peter Kariuki as County Secretary after the latter was suspended, together with three other senior county officials, for contradicting Governor Mike Sonko over the Pumwani Maternity Hospital scandal where bodies of dead babies were discovered in plastic bags in a store at the facility.
The bone of contention was the tone, spirit and intention of a reply letter that had been authored by the secretary to the Public Service Board in which Ms Kahiga told the Committee that most of the county executives and chief officers would not honour their invitations as the “notice was too short and the employees had prior engagements.”
VALID CONTRACTS
“It is worthy to point out that it would be appreciated if the County Assembly committee would raise the concerns cited in your letter as appropriate with the relevant sector of the Executive and /or County Public Service Board,” the letter, dated November 14, 2018, reads in part.
This was in reply to a letter by the Budget Committee which asked whether county executives had valid contracts to be in office.
Assembly majority leader Abdi Guyo expressed discontent with the letter, questioning Ms Kahiga’s intentions and saying that it showed her arrogance and disdain towards an institution that has the legal mandate to exercise oversight over the county executive.
“What happened to the prior engagements that you indicated in the letter?” posed Mr Guyo.
Nominated MCA Emily Oduor and Kayole South ward representative Fredrick Okeyo also termed the letter as offensive and befitting a person of Ms Kahiga’s stature and experience.
DENIED ACCUSATIONS
In her defense, the administrator denied accusations of ill-intent, malice and arrogance in her letter.
“Certainly not the intention. It had no intention of rubbishing or belittling the summons. If you allow me we can withdraw the letter and apologise,” said Ms Kahiga when she finally turned up at City Hall on Thursday last week.
She said she would withdraw the letter in a spirit of goodwill and apologised before the committee.
Ms Kahiga was also put on spot over her competence with the committee asking her to provide her credentials, job description and terms of services in the next sitting, in order for the committee to determine if she is fit to hold her current position.
