In Summary;
- Provable reasons for stand-off
- Assembly’s advice to the Executive
- Cancellation of the advert
Following days of negative talk led by Bungoma County governor Wycliffe Wangamati against the Assembly for choosing to probe irregularities involved in advertising for the 236 village administrator’s positions, the assembly through its Public Communications Officer has today Tuesday, November 10, 2020 made released a communication titled; PRESS STATEMENT ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF VILLAGE ADMINISTRATORS just to put the record straight.
It reads…
The County Assembly of Bungoma is concerned with reports being circulated to the public by use of various media to the effect that Hon. Members of the County Assembly are opposed to the employment of village administrators. Nothing can be further from the truth.
The County Assembly through the committee on Public Administration and ICT wishes to state as follows;
There is no budgetary allocation for employment of village administrators in the current budget for FY 2020/2021.
Boundaries delineation for the created villages remains incomplete (Refer to section 14 of the Bungoma County (Administrative units) Act 2015). The same is still active before the committee on Public Administration and ICT.
Names of some villages across the County are still being contested by residents.
Based on the above, the County Assembly of Bungoma Committee on Public Administration and ICT advised the department of Public Administration to hold the advertisement in abeyance awaiting the resolution on the aforementioned issues.
Download here; COUNTY ASSEMBLY OF BUNGOMA-VILLAGE ADMINSTRATORS 10-11-2020
The County Assembly was however dismayed to find an advertisement in the Standard News Paper on 2nd November 2020 without the knowledge of the committee since the issues remain unresolved to date.
For avoidance of doubt,
The committee terms the assertion by the department of public Administration and ICT that the department has surplus money to undertake the employment as misleading.
Kindly note that section 50 of the PFM Act, 2012 requires that any monies held by a public entity as either surplus or otherwise has to be declared to the County Assembly and appropriated by the committee on Budget before expenditure.
The County Assembly further wishes to point out that a directive by the committee through the Office of the Clerk to have the advertisement cancelled is yet to be complied with.
Further, the committee summoned the County Public Service Board to appear today in a bid to reach an agreement and move forward the process. The CPSB was expected to provide the under-listed information on the recruitment:
a) Evidence of the budgetary allocation.
b) Letters of intent on the recruitment from the Public Administration committee
c) Show cause on contravention of the provisions of the constitution.
The board members failed to show up and sought an additional 14 days which was declined by the committee. The committee instead granted them 7 days and are therefore expected to appear on Tuesday 17th, 2020.
The County Assembly wishes to state that it is not opposed to the employment but is committed to ensure that the process and the law is followed to the latter.
Erick Ngobilo
Public Communications Officer
County Assembly Of Bungoma.
