Critics cry politics after Kidero sacks two executives

High level scepticism met Nairobi governor Evans Kidero’s decision to send two members of his Executive packing after barely one and a half years in office.

Dr Kidero sent Environment Executive John Gakuo and his Health counterpart Timothy Kingondu home in a mini-reshuffle that his publicists said was informed by their failure to meet set performance targets.

The two executives were in charge of some of the city’s best financed departments, leading some observers to quip that they were victims of a vicious fight for control of resources.

Dr Kingondu, who holds a Master’s degree in International Medicine from London University, was in charge of a Sh6.1 billion docket that ran major city health facilities such as Pumwani, Mbagathi, Mama Lucy and Mutuini.

Departments under Mr Gakuo were allocated Sh1 billion for recurrent and development expenditure this year. 

Critics described the sackings as political, pointing at the recent failures of some members of the executive who were spared the axe.

“How could Mr Gakuo and Dr Kingondu have performed worse than well-known members of the executive who have been involved in mega-financial scandals at City Hall but have been spared the sacking?” posed a member of the County Assembly who is allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party, The National Alliance.

“All we know is that the two are victims of the hardball that is being played at City Hall,” said the MCA, adding that if performance was the basis of the changes, Dr Kidero should himself have vacated office for his lacklustre performance since taking office in April last year.

“Ask any Nairobi resident what Dr Kidero has done since his arrival at City Hall and you won’t get a straight answer.”

Staunch supporters of the governor, however, maintained that Mr Gakuo and Dr Kingondu were relieved of their duties because they had proved incapable of managing their dockets in line with the set performance targets.

“The two had been given a year and a half to make an impact in their dockets but failed to deliver and had to go,” said Elias Otieno, the Majority Leader in the assembly.

Mr Manoah Mboku, who chairs the assembly’s Health committee, said the MCAs have been pushing for the removal of Dr Kingondu on grounds of incompetence and were happy to see him go.

“We have, for instance, made it known to Dr Kingondu that Makadara health centre has no electricity but he has done nothing to remedy the situation. Pumwani, the county’s biggest maternity hospital, has no radiologist but he has done nothing about it,” he said.

Dr Kidero said in a press statement that the reshuffle was meant to address lax service delivery to Nairobi residents.

City Hall said Mr Gakuo and Dr Kigondu had resigned from their positions but did not give any reasons for the departure.

“The search for their replacements is underway and appointees to the positions will be taken to the County Assembly for vetting,” Dr Kidero said in a statement.

Mr Gakuo was said to have been called to Dr Kidero’s office at 10am and informed that he had been dropped from the Cabinet. No reason was given.

The former Town Clerk, who once initiated many changes in the city, including the greening of public spaces and removal of hawkers from the business district, apparently had no idea of the impending sacking.

Dr Kingondu maintained the official City Hall line insisting he had resigned to pursue other interests.

“I have left the position because I am busy somewhere else. Let the county get a different person to do the job because I may not be adding value at the moment,” he said.

Other executives were also moved in the ensuing reshuffle. Anne Lokidor – formerly the CEC for Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock Development was appointed to the Information Communication and Technology docket, replacing Mohamed Abdullahi who is the new man in charge of Roads, Transport and Public Works.

Mr Mohamed takes over from Evans Ondieki who replaced Mr Gakuo at the Water and Environment department.

Education executive Christopher Khaemba and his Public Service counterpart Mercy Kamau took additional responsibilities of managing the Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Development and Health Services dockets respectively in an acting capacity.

The reshuffle came nine months after the assembly put several members of Kidero’s executive, including Mr Gakuo and Mr Ondieki, on notice over slow service delivery in their dockets that were hampering the county government’s overall performance.

“I am directing Mr Gakuo to ensure that all the filth in the city’s informal settlements such as Kibera, Mathare and Dandora is cleared in a week’s time and the perennial water shortages stop,” Dr Kidero said in a confidential communiqué to Mr Gakuo in January.

Mr Gakuo was in charge of water, energy, forestry, environment and natural resources – a role that put him in charge of the Nairobi Water Company and the city’s open and wet spaces.

He was also in charge of garbage collection that Nairobi residents continue to complain about.

Mr Gakuo was also in the driving seat for City Hall’s proposed multi-billion shilling project to convert the Dandora dumpsite into an energy generation plant.

READ: City Hall, firm in Sh28bn power deal

The project has received the green light from the National Treasury’s Public Private Partnerships Unit as a bankable venture that should proceed. It has so far attracted the interest of big financiers such as the German Sustainable Energy Management firm.

The plan is to build a Sh28 billion plant that will use garbage to produce 70 megawatts of electricity for the city.

City Hall has in the past one year raised its revenue collection from about Sh400 million per month to more than Sh1 billion, helped by increases of charges levied for various services – an achievement that has raised expectations for better services.

Nairobi has a Sh28.7 billion budget, most of it financed through local revenue.