A group of Nyamira County residents have filed a petition with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) seeking the suspension of the devolved unit.
The petition which was received by IEBC on Thursday was filed by four residents through Dennis Onyango advocates.
Mr Jeremiah Migosi, Astarico Omariba, Ombati Eunice and Jared Nyaribo want the county government suspended over 11 issues that they term as of grave concern.
“Our clients are residents of Nyamira County. They wish to notify you of their intention to collect signatures to petition for the suspension of the county government of Nyamira pursuant to Article 192(1) (b) as read together with section 123of the County Government Act No. 17 of 2012,” the petition reads in part.
The petitioners claim that the devolved unit has engaged in several instances of impropriety and actions that are deemed to be against the common needs and interests of the registered voters of Nyamira County.
They claim service delivery to the county of Nyamira has been compromised owing to the mistreatment of employees.
“The employees are not paid on time thus affecting their morale. They cannot complain as they live in fear of being victimised if they do so,” said the petitioners.
They further claimed that the governor, Amos Nyaribo, has been paying himself a hefty and illegal monty salary of Sh 6.5 million. On this, Governor Nyaribo had earlier said that the amount emanated from some arrears.
Part of the arrears, he explained, was money he was never paid for the entire period he served as a deputy governor.
Incompetence and poor management of the county, failure to pay casual workers their wages on time, lack of basic equipment, drug and other basic amenities in hospitals, lack of water supply and cleaning of markets, nepotism in employment and corruption are some of the other issues the petitioners have listed as warranting the suspension of the county.
Under corruption, the petitioners said creating and allocating Sh7.7 million to a phony Disability Board which does not exist, money has been budgeted for and appropriated for the construction of Riamogaka bridge in Bokeira but no sign of construction works on site several months later, a number of stalled projects and white elephants including Nyamusi Hospital which was built by the previous governor but he has failed to equip and the Governor's residence are some of the allegations.
Other issues are an adverse and damning auditor's and Controller of Budget's reports for the financial year 2023/2024 and failure to conduct public participation before initiating any projects and initiating projects on whims, which projects are rarely ever completed anyway.
"The foregoing grievances and many more improprieties meet the threshold of exceptional circumstances as contemplated in the referenced provisions of the constitution at Article 192 and Section 123 of the statutes," noted the petitioner.
The governor's incompetence, they said, is summarised by an embarrassing request that he made to President William Ruto when he toured Nyamira County recently.
"When he was given the rare opportunity to speak at the presidential event and make any request on behalf of the people of Nyamira, the governor requested the president to build morgue, a kitchen and a perimeter wall," the petitioners said.
The petitioners alleged that the abject incompetence and excesses by the executive branch of the county government have remained unchecked and in fact condoned by the assembly owing to both the utter incompetence of the ward representatives and bribery of the ward representatives by the governor.
"Our clients therefore wish to initiate the process of collecting signatures as required by Section 123(2) of the County Governments Act as a prerequisite to petition his excellency the president to suspend the county government of Nyamira so that the people of Nyamira County can have another chance to remedy the cruel anomaly that is the county government of Nyamira," the petition read.
"Kindly therefore advise us on the legal requirements and procedures to undertake the process of signature collection to facilitate the petition under Article 192 of the constitution of Kenya 2010 and the County Governments Act No. 17 of 2012," they avered.
Recently in his response to protests by Gen Zs, Governor Nyaribo denied claims of corruption and nepotism in his administration.
“Allegations of all officers’ recruited being relatives of the Governor are false. Recruitment is done by the County Public Service Board(CPSB) and meets all the legal requirements including regional balance, age, gender, minority, experience and People with disability (PWD),” said Mr Nyaribo.
The protesters had demanded that Governor Nyaribo suspends the CPSB, citing corruption but he said that he had no such powers.
He advised that anyone who is aggrieved by their continued stay in office should petition the County Assembly or report to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) or the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
Governor Nyaribo defended the CPSB saying that they have always advertised for vacant positions in the media as opposed to claims of “silent” hiring of staff.
On alleged misappropriation of funds, Mr Nyaribo referred to the Auditor General report of the 2022/2023 financial year which the Gen Zs had cited to crucify him.
He explained that malicious politicians are out to spread disinformation and set up his administration against the people.
