Standoff over rejected list of Nominees Looms in Baringo

Kabarnet, Thursday, May 11, 2023

KNA by Benson Kelio/Christopher Kiprop

A standoff is simmering between the Baringo County Executive and their Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) over the rejection of a list of nominees for Chief Officers (CO’s) on grounds that it lacked sufficient information.

Baringo County Assembly members led by deputy speaker Kipruto Kimosop returned the list to Governor Benjamin Cheboi until he supplies the assembly with the requisite information on the 19 nominees to facilitate the process of vetting and suitability interviews.

Kimosop while speaking to journalists outside the county assembly buildings on Wednesday said the concerned committees of the house are challenged in commencing the process which has also elicited mixed reactions from members of the public and deputy governor Eng Felix Kipng’ok who has openly expressed his dissatisfaction on the selection process.

The Mochongoi Ward legislator said apart from a memo from the governor, they are demanding from the county public service board the shortlisting and ranking process as well as the rationale behind regional balancing accompanied by the procedure arrived at during the competitive bidding of the recruitment.

“The reason this had to happen is because we had earlier dispensed three other processes during the vetting and approval of deputy governor, County Executive Committee Members (CECM) and County Secretary but it did not have challenges like this one,” he said.

County Assembly Speaker Vincent Kemboi confirmed on Thursday via telephone that the list has been returned back to the governor until the executive wing avails all the document to facilitate their work of oversight.

Kemboi stated that the decision was arrived at after the county assembly’s internal processes deemed the list to be lacking crucial information

The current developments come at a time when a section of MCAs from Baringo Central had threatened to mobilize to shoot down the list citing discrimination during the selection criteria.

Kabarnet Ward MCA who is the Majority Whip claimed that the governor picked only two that out of the 19 CO’s from their area yet they were recently shortchanged in the appointments of County Executive Committees (CEC’s) since they were allocated only one slot out of the 10 available.

Kibet said that it is unfortunate that almost half of the list were nominated into positions they did not apply and interviewed for while others appointed were not recommended for the positions.

“We are not happy and we want to put it in black and white and I am ready to lead other MCAs to reject the list of CO’s when it will come into assembly for approval,” he said.

His Kapropita counterpart Alex Kurui said that the governor should have consulted widely other leaders including his deputy about the list of CO’s appointment to ensure accountability and fair representation.

Courtesy; K.N.A