Two petitions have been filed seeking removal of members of Kakamega County Public Service Board (CPSB).
The two petitions were filed by Edwin Shivakale and Alex Wanjala.
However, during the hearing of the matters lawyers representing the respondents (County Public Service Board) members accused the County Assembly on Public Service and Administration Committee of being used by the executive.
In communication, the committee Chairman Willis Opuka ruled that the board members vacate from the office until the matter is heard and determined.
“The board members have been accused of serious violation of the constitution, gross misconduct, corruption and gross misconduct. We order that they get out of office to pave way for a fair exercise,” said Mr Opuka
However, the legal team argued that the county assembly was usurping powers that don’t belong to them.
“What you mentioned interferes with the work of the board which is a semi-autonomous entity. For a fair process, they need to continue being in office,” a lawyer representing the board argued during the hearing.
He added: “Which powers are you using to order the board to take leave from office, is it oversight or delegated powers. Under which specific law is the committee using to send the board home,”
The board’s lawyer added that he had not accessed some crucial documents to enable them mount a defense by the County Public Service Board secretary.
The respondent’s lawyer accused the assembly committee of denying the respondents time to prepare for a serious defense.
“This session should be suspended until we get time and relevant documents needed to defend the accused persons,” he said.
With the bitter exchange between the lawyers and the assembly committee, Mr Opuka suspended the session to enable them make a ruling on issues raised.
After a 30 minutes’ break, the committee Vice Chairman Peter Walunya read the ruling and denied them extension of time.
“Notwithstanding any other law in computation of time, the 14 days we gave are enough. Out standing orders stipulate calendar days and this does not include weekend and holidays,” Walunya ruled.
On being denied documents, we don’t have any evidence showing you requested for the documents and you were denied. “We have decided in the absence of any material, we can’t say much ado,”
On sending the board on compulsory leave, the committee retreated from their earlier stance and allowed them to continue being in office.”We don’t have a specific law we can cite in sending the board home. The issue is hereby dropped,” said Walunya
Even so, the respondent’s lead counsel told the assembly committee that the hearing will continue but under protest.
The first petitioner, Edwin Shivakale accused the County Public Service Board of lacking integrity.
“That the conduct of the service board was jointly or severally negligent, reckless, selfish, illegal and devoid of national values of social justice, accountability and in accordance with Chapter Six of the constitution on leadership and integrity,” said Shivakale
He produced an internal audit report between July 2020 and June 2021which he said has his evidence but the respondents didn’t have the report. Interestingly, the county assembly committee also had the report.
But the respondent’s lawyer rebutted the argument saying an alien document which they didn’t have has been introduced in the petition hearing process.
The lawyer argued, “You can’t hide under a document we don’t have. It’s irregular, suspicious and unethical. We object any reliant to any of them that was never provided to the respondent,”
However, Mr Shivakale objected saying the lawyer was confusing the committee with a lot of English and demanded that the committee adopt his petition in entirety.
The Committee Chairman, Mr Opuka suspended the session for an hour to make a ruling on the issues raised.
The committee Vice Chair, Mr Walunya in the committee ruling said that they have decided to stop the petitioner from adducing any evidence until the respondents are served. The proceedings were adjourned to next Monday.
In the second petition by Alex Wanjala, the shouting match continued.
The respondents legal team wondered how a petition was received on March 22, committed to the house for discussion and the same day communicated to the county service board.
They also demanded for a Hansard report of March 22, which was not provided. The respondents also didn’t have documents with regards to petition two.
With the sustained pressure, the committee proposed an adjournment of the session but the lawyers refused. Hearing of the second petition resumes on Wednesday next week.
