Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua sent senior members of his cabinet home on Wednesday, March 11, accusing them of corruption, insubordination and lethargy among several other faults.
In a hard-hitting six-page statement seen by Kenyans.co.ke, Mutua described the productivity levels of the county's 7,000 employees as below par, declaring that he would not allow the situation to continue.
"I am puzzled by a culture of people who spend time backbiting, pulling others down and spreading unfounded malice against each other. This, besides spreading hate and slowing service delivery also undermines and betrays the leadership and the very government which they work for," the statement reads in part.
Five members of his cabinet were suspended among them; Trade CEC Francis Mwaka, Public Service CEC Kimeu Kimeu, Youth and Sports Chief Officer Carlos Kioko, Forensics Chief Officer James Mutunga, and acting Medical Services Chief Officer Joel Mwova.
Mwaka, Kimeu and Mwova were suspended for two months with Kioko and Mutunga facing three-month suspensions. They will receive half salary for the duration of their suspensions.
Special Programs, Research and Development Chief Officer Michael Maina, on the other hand, was dismissed.
Three other cabinet members were issued with warning letters; County Administration CEC Titus Kavila, ICT Chief Officer Emmanuel Kimeu and Agriculture CEC Urbanus Musyoka.
The letters sent to Kimeu and Kavila were distinguished as 'final' warnings, with the governor noting specifics of the decisions were contained in the correspondence.
Several other officials were redeployed to other departments or assigned additional duties.
Special Programs Chief Officer Jacks Nthanga, for instance, was deployed back to Machakos Level Five Hospital.
Other than decrying wrangling among the county officials, Mutua revealed that some of the officials would allegedly deliberately fail to offer services as stipulated in a bid to extort members of the public.
He further disclosed that whenever he was out of town, many of the CECs and Chief Officers failed to show up to work, a behaviour he described as 'unacceptable'.
"Equally, I am disturbed by a creeping culture of organised confusion, for example, situations where public officers, with vested interests, intentionally fail to put service delivery systems in place or create unnecessary red tape so as to extract personal benefits from members of the public seeking services from their offices.
"There are other situations where I have received information about public officers colluding with unscrupulous individuals/groups, brokers and service providers to break the law and facilitate corrupt deals. This will not happen under my watch as governor," he stated.
