Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi has taken issue with Nairobi Deputy Governor Mike Sonko's appointee for the position of Deputy Governor.
Reports from the Standard on Monday, January 20, indicated that Elachi sent back the name of Anne Mwenda to Governor Sonko indicating that he did not follow the procedure in appointing her.
The publication indicated that the decision by Elachi was reached after she established that Sonko had not followed the proper guidelines laid down by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in nominating Mwenda.
"I have sent the name back to the governor to ensure that the correct procedure is followed. I did not want to go ahead with the vetting and then be told that we did not follow procedure," she stated.
Elachi stated that the decision had been informed by a consultative meeting with IEBC boss Wafula Chebukati who outlined the procedure that a governor was set to follow in nominating a deputy.
The guidelines, which were reportedly communicated to governors in June 2018, informed that when nominating a deputy, a governor was supposed to first submit the nominee's name to the IEBC for vetting.
This is because the position of the deputy governor is seen as a political position and thus anyone occupying it was to go through the verification process laid down by the constitution.
Once the nominee is cleared, the commission provides her with a nomination clearance and a copy of the same is forwarded to the governor after which the nominee's name is forwarded to the county government for vetting and possible approval.
Once approved by the county assembly, the county assembly speaker would be required to forward to the commission the resolution of the assembly with recommendations approving the nominee to the office of the deputy governor.
It is after this entire process that the name is gazetted and the speaker facilitates for the deputy governor to take this oath.
Governor Sonko's nomination of Mwenda, the Nairobi County chief officer for disaster management and coordination, took place on January 6, 2020, and she was set to take office on February 6 in complete disregard to the process set out by the law.
