Govt to involve Kenyans in Chiefs’ Appointments
Govt to involve Kenyans in Chiefs’ Appointments
Kithure Kindiki, the interior cabinet secretary, stated on Wednesday that the government is amenable to including the general public in the selection of chiefs and assistant chiefs.The Cabinet Secretary stated that although the Public Service Commission (PSC) oversees the recruitment of this cadre of state officers, the government is open to taking a different approach to improve efficiency and eliminate incompetence. The Cabinet Secretary was speaking while testifying before the Senate National Security, Defence, and Foreign Relations Committee.
However, the Cabinet Secretary emphasized that hiring chiefs and subchiefs falls under the purview of the national government and that parliamentarians shouldn’t anticipate anything beyond what is permitted by law.”The recruitment of chiefs and assistant chiefs is governed by the scheme of service which is administered by the Public Service Commission (PSC) and while they are in service, we normally do continuous training and orientation so that the public interest element is maintained,” said the chief secretary.
In response to inquiries from the Baringo Senator William Cheptumo-led committee, Kindiki further disclosed that the government would immediately begin recruiting chiefs and assistant chiefs once an opening for the position occurred in response to numerous complaints of bureaucracy in the hiring process.The CS specifically stated that the government will shorten the regular 90-day hiring process to only 60 days.
“It is the policy decision that all vacancies for chiefs and assistant chiefs will be filled within this financial year and no office of a location or sublocation chief should fall vacant, “added the CS.When asked why equivalent jobs had not yet been filled by the government in various regions of the nation, the CS responded that the process had been slowed down by the 2022 general elections.”Ordinarily when we have elections we pause such processes so that they are not interfered with by the political events, now that the elections are behind us, we have taken the decision that all positions of chiefs and assistant chiefs countrywide are going to be filled immediately without any further delay,” he stated.
In response to inquiries about political meddling in the hiring of national administration personnel, the CS accused strong politicians of persistent meddling and pressuring the hiring authority to favor their chosen candidates.
CS Kindiki retorted, “I know what the Senators mean, the genuine tampering where a politician tries to determine who to become chief and that is improper. Kindiki refused to give MPs full information on the job openings during the session, stating that the administration must first take into account a number of factors. “Based on all these reasons that cause vacancies in the office of the chief and assistant chief, the accurate data on the vacancies within counties cannot be retrieved except if for example we are asked for a particular county at a particular date in which case we can freeze the date and give the information,” Kindiki stated.
