CO Kibusia Accused Of Sidelining MCAs In Development Activities

By Staff Writer

Chief Officer for Public Service Management and Devolution, Joseph Kibusia has come under sharp criticism from Members of County Assembly (MCA) over alleged exclusion from development activities in their Wards.

In particular, Subukia MCA Isabellah Makori accused the Chief Officer of sidelining her during a recent handover of facilities formerly occupied by the National Youth Service, which are earmarked for renovation.

Kibusia said the renovation would increase office capacity, strengthen coordination of county operations and improve service delivery, ensuring residents of Subukia Ward access government services more conveniently within the sub-county.

Isabellah told the County Assembly of Nakuru she was neither informed nor invited to the ceremony and only learnt about it from neighbours before going to the site, where she found administrators and security officers present.

“When I went there yesterday to demand answers, they recorded me as I was speaking and they posted on Facebook and all WhatsApp groups in the whole Subukia sub-county,” she stated adding that her reputation has been injured.

She further alleged the site was handed over at 7.30am in the presence of armed police officers, whom she claimed had been assigned to remain at the site until completion of the project.

The matter arose during a Committee of the Whole session at the Assembly, where County Secretary Samwel Mwaura had been invited to respond to issues concerning county administration and project implementation.

Mwaura said it would be a serious lapse if due process was not followed and promised investigations. He stressed that project handovers must involve prior mobilisation, full participation of the area MCA and structured community engagement.

He emphasised that residents must clearly understand the project and its anticipated impact. If procedures were breached, he said, corrective action would be taken to prevent similar occurrences in future.

Isabellah questioned the urgency of the handover, arguing that once a contract is awarded it becomes difficult to reverse. She maintained the renovation was not a priority for residents of Subukia Ward.

She further claimed the project funds were earmarked for reallocation to boost her Ward bursary allocation, noting she had already received about 400 application forms from Grade 10 students seeking financial support.

Nakuru East MCA Anthony Kanyere said it was the high time the County Secretary communicated with the Chief Officer and the contractor to stop the works pending his intervention.

Biashara Ward MCA Fadhili Msuri said similar concerns could arise in other Wards, as some MCAs had written to departments seeking to redirect certain development allocations to enhance bursary funds.

“But we have seen some projects have been advertised, so you need to maybe reach across the departments and inform them that if there’s a specific project in your department that has flagged as an enhancement, please do not proceed to advertise,” Fadhili expressed his worries.

Fadhili also cited an incident in which Kibusia allegedly met traders at Railways Stage over a planned relocation without involving him, as the area MCA, where traders later accused him of supporting the eviction due to his absence.

Naivasha East MCA Stanley Karanja questioned the scope of the Kibusia’s authority, recalling that he recently terminated 21 county employees hired in 2014 over alleged ‘contravention of Section 63 of the County Governments Act’.

The termination letters were later challenged in court, and the Nakuru Employment and Labour Relations Court issued interim orders barring the County from dismissing the affected employees pending determination of the dispute.