On 21 November 2018, a Nairobi County Assembly committee heard claims that promotions in the Inspectorate Department had been handled unfairly, with Pumwani MCA Paul Irungu accusing City Hall of favouritism and unexplained demotions.
Irungu told the County Assembly Labour and Social Welfare Committee that he had evidence to support his complaint, including screenshots. He said the issue was serious enough for him to raise it on the floor of the assembly and pressed the committee to examine how the changes were made.
Last month, he had asked the committee to investigate the circumstances behind the demotions and the criteria used in making the decisions. He also wanted the full list of officers in the department and their current ranks released.
The complaint came after the Nairobi City Workers Union sent a protest letter to the Nairobi County Public Service Board over the same matter.
City Hall pushed back during the hearing chaired by Peter Wanyoike. Nairobi chief officer for security compliance Tito Kilonzi said the allegations were based on a misunderstanding of routine redeployments.
“None of our staff have been demoted. People have misinterpreted the redeployment we undertake periodically of senior officers to mean demotion,” Kilonzi said.
He added that redeployment was not done with malice and said the county considered academic qualifications, training, performance and experience when evaluating staff. Kilonzi also said only the county public service board had the power to appoint a person to hold or act in county public service office, while the Inspectorate Department could only recommend demotion to the board in cases of gross misconduct.
Mugumoini MCA Jared Akama said promotions and demotions should be handled fairly. The list of senior officers presented to the committee, however, was said to show domination by members of two communities.
Deputy County Secretary Leboo Morintat, who also serves as Public Service Management chief officer, told the committee he was not aware of any demotions. Meshack Guto, the board’s chief executive officer, supported that position and said the board would investigate the matter and take appropriate action.
