|
|
Kenya: Storm Brews in Water Ministry
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Nation (Nairobi)
24 July 2008
Posted to the web 24 July 2008
Dave Opiyo
Nairobi
A storm is brewing at the Water and Irrigation ministry over a recent reshuffle of its parastatal chiefs.
Minister Charity Ngilu was on Wednesday accused of unilaterally appointing officials without the approval of Water Services Boards in contravention of the Water Act 2002.
Sources from the Water Service Regulatory Board told the Nation that this had raised fears that the minister may be hand-picking her own team.
The minister was also accused of posting civil servants to the boards as chief executive officers while they were still Government employees.
Planning go-slow
"There's tension in the water boards and the officers are planning a go-slow," the sources said.
The sources said that a top official at the ministry had failed to attend a conference in the Congo due to the controversy.
"The official had already secured an air ticket and expenses cash. His trip had been cleared by the President," said the source.
"In fact, one of the directors who was in the Government delegation to the conference in Congo was demoted while there."
A confidential letter obtained by the Nation, said that the staff changes were a result of poor performance by officials.
The letter, signed by PS David Stower, said the ministry's dismal performance was attributed to a host of reasons including low financial resource utilisation by the boards in spite of demand for water.
Slow implementation of water sector reforms, a poor project implementation record and fiscal indiscipline were also cited.
In the changes, the ministry announced that Mrs Jacqueline Musyoki had been appointed the new chief executive officer Water Services Trust Fund with Mr Japheth Mutai being moved to the Rift Valley Water Services Board.
Mr Robinson Gaita, formerly chief executive, Rift Valley Water Services Board, returned to headquarters as director of Irrigation Drainage and Water Storage.
Mr Daniel Barasa was named general manager of National Irrigation Board while Mr Patrick Olum, is the new chief executive of Water Resources Management Authority.
Mr Patrick Oloo, formerly chief executive officer of Water Resources Management Authority is back at headquarters.
Mr Meshack Saboke was appointed managing director of National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation. He takes over from Mr Joseph Muchemi who also moved back to headquarters.
Mr Michael Ochieng was appointed chief executive, Lake Victoria South Water Services Board. He replaced Mr Patrick Ombogo, who now heads the Reforms Unit.
The Director of Water Services Department, Mr Robert Gakubia, was moved to Water Services Regulatory Board as CEO.
His position was taken up by Mr Lawrence Simitu, who was deputy director, Operations and Maintenance.
Mr John Nyaoro, who was a senior deputy director, was appointed director Water Resources.
|
On Tuesday, Mrs Ngilu failed to inuagurate the board of directors of the Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company following protests by a group of placard-waving councillors and civil society members.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
