Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o has sacked his minister for Education, ICT and Human Capacity Development John Obiero Ogone.
The governor has also sent on compulsory leave seven other senior county staff from the Education and Procurement departments.
“The seven persons will proceed on compulsory leave following instructions from the county secretary,” said the governor in a statement on Monday morning.
The county boss nominated Mr John Obiero Awiti, a career teacher and a politician, to replace Mr Ogone in a mini-reshuffle of his administration.
He served as a principal of various schools such as St Jospeh’s Rapogi, St Mary’s Yala and Kisumu Boys High School.
He later unsuccessfully contested for the Kisumu West parliamentary seat on an Orange Democratic Movement ticket but lost to Mr Olago Aluoch of Ford Kenya.
It is not clear what led to Dr Ogone’s sacking, but there are claims it could be connected to misuse of funds meant for a multi-million shillings school feeding programme.
Among the officers sent on compulsory leave are close allies to the governor. They include Mr Haggai Hawi Kadiri and Rosemary Otieno, who previously acted as chief officer for Education.
The others are Mr George Orude, (Youth), Ms Emily Ohore (TVET), and Ms Margaret Apondi (Early Childhood Education).
According to a source at the county executive, the governor took the move following the misappropriation of about Sh42 million meant for the school feeding programme.
The alleged misappropriation is also suspected to be connected to the burning of documents at the Finance office a few months ago when the governor was out of the country.
“What the governor is doing is cleaning up the Education and the Procurement departments which have been riddled with corruption,” said the source.
The Nation made efforts to reach the governor’s Director of Press Unit Aloice Ager and the fired Education CEC were unsuccessful.
