By Anchor Writers
The Kitui County Assembly has opened an inquiry into the recruitment of county government employees amid allegations of geographical imbalance, nepotism, favouritism, corruption and lack of transparency in the hiring process undertaken by the Kitui County Public Service Board (KCPSB).
The inquiry follows a statement request by Nominated MCA Deborah Kutungwa Mutuku(Pictured below)during Wednesday afternoon’s plenary sitting, seeking a detailed account of how the Board conducted the recruitment exercise and whether it complied with constitutional and statutory requirements governing public appointments.
Mutuku invoked Standing Order 41(2)(c) to seek the statement from the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Labour and Social Welfare, saying concerns had been raised by members of the public and other stakeholders over the recruitment process.
At the heart of the inquiry is whether the distribution of county jobs reflects the constitutional principles of fairness, transparency, competitiveness and equitable representation across Kitui County.
The committee has been asked to establish the positions advertised by the Board, the number of applications received, the number of candidates shortlisted and interviewed, and the number eventually recruited.
It must also establish whether the recruitment process complied with the applicable constitutional and statutory provisions and demonstrate how the Board applied principles of fairness, transparency and competitiveness throughout the exercise.
A particularly significant aspect of the inquiry will be the geographical distribution of those recruited.
The committee is expected to provide a detailed breakdown of successful candidates by sub-county and ward and explain what measures the Public Service Board took to ensure equitable representation of communities, sub-counties and wards in county employment.
The Assembly is also demanding an account of what happened after the interviews.
The committee has been asked to explain how and when the results of the interviews and recruitment exercise were communicated to successful and unsuccessful candidates, potentially providing an important test of the transparency of the process.
It will further have to disclose details of complaints, petitions, objections and appeals submitted by unsuccessful applicants, members of the public and other stakeholders in relation to the recruitment exercise, as well as how such complaints were handled.
The Speaker, Kevin Kinengo Katisya, committed the statement to the Committee on Labour and Social Welfare and directed it to report back to the Assembly within 21 days.
The inquiry gives the Assembly an opportunity to move beyond general allegations surrounding county recruitment and establish, from official records, what actually happened during the exercise.
For the Public Service Board, the questions now before the Assembly go beyond who secured county jobs.
They touch on whether the recruitment process was demonstrably open, competitive and equitable, and whether unsuccessful applicants and the wider public were given sufficient information to understand how the decisions were reached.
The outcome of the inquiry could therefore provide an important public record on how Kitui County handles recruitment into its public service and whether concerns about regional representation and fairness are supported by evidence.
The Assembly also considered a separate accountability matter concerning the distribution of health and sanitation projects.
Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Health and Sanitation Godfrey Muthengi Ndagara responded to a statement request by Kyangwithya East MCA Boniface Maundu Katumbi over the alleged exclusion of the ward from the distribution of health and sanitation projects.
The committee’s response was deemed unsatisfactory, prompting the Assembly to grant it a further 21 days to summon the County Executive Committee Member for Health and Sanitation and prepare a more detailed response.
Both matters place county institutions under scrutiny over two fundamental questions of public administration: whether public resources and opportunities are distributed fairly, and whether county officials can provide citizens with clear evidence to support those decisions.
The recruitment inquiry, in particular, will be closely watched as the Labour and Social Welfare Committee begins examining the records and complaints surrounding the KCPSB exercise.
The Anchor will follow the inquiry and the committee’s eventual findings.
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