Why the Fall of the Board was Inevitable
By Martin Masai with Daniel Mutinda
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr’s Wote Municipal Board is in a disarray after the High Court in Makueni declared its recruitment process unconstitutional, unprocedural, and null and void.
The ruling, delivered on August 11, 2025, by Lady Justice Teresia Mumbua Matheka, struck at the very foundation of the board’s existence — citing glaring breaches of statutory and constitutional requirements.
The case, filed in March 2024 by Justus and Joseph Kioko Mutisya, accused the governor, the County Assembly, and others of flouting the Urban Areas and Cities Act, 2011 (as amended in 2019), the Constitution, and the principles of good governance.
The petitioners alleged that the governor’s appointments ignored the requirement for fair representation of women, youth, persons with disabilities, and marginalized groups, and that some members were reappointed contrary to the law.
While the court dismissed the gender imbalance claim — noting that the board’s composition of five men and four women met the constitutional threshold — it found that the recruitment process itself failed the transparency and accountability test.
Justice Matheka noted that the law demands four of the board’s members be nominated by specific professional, private sector, informal sector, and neighborhood associations.
Mutula’s administration had exhibited letters it claimed were sent to these associations seeking nominations. But the judge found no proof that the letters were ever received, nor any signed or stamped responses from the associations themselves. “The evidence presented… does not show that Section 14(3) of the Act was strictly adhered to,” she ruled.
The court also pointed out that the governor had not demonstrated how the appointees represented youth, persons with disabilities, or marginalized groups — a key constitutional requirement. “Except for the gender of the appointees, there is nothing before this court to demonstrate compliance,” Justice Matheka said.
Equally damning was the reminder that the law only allows board members to serve a single five-year term.
The governor’s decision to reappoint individuals from the previous board, without legal basis, flew in the face of Section 15 of the Act.
In the end, the court prohibited the governor from making discriminatory appointments, ordered compliance with all constitutional and statutory requirements in future recruitment, and declared the board’s composition invalid.
The fallout leaves Wote Municipality without a legally constituted board, raising urgent questions about service delivery and the county government’s grasp of the law it is sworn to uphold.
For Mutula, the judgment is more than a legal defeat — it is a political embarrassment, striking at the heart of his administration’s credibility in urban governance.
The governor now faces the unenviable task of restarting the appointment process from scratch, this time under the watchful eye of the public, the law, and a court that has shown it will not hesitate to dismantle governance built on bogus ‘legal’ frameworks.
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