Mandera Governor Ali Roba has asked local public servants to serve residents with integrity and impartiality.
Governor Roba said the region is cosmopolitan and emphasized the need for all communities to be included during job recruitment.
Mr. Roba who spoke on Friday during a swearing-in function of five members of the County Public Service Board said the utmost goal of the board ought to be improving the living conditions of residents.
“People do not see valor of the horse until it is dead; you will realize what we have been doing when we exit office,” Roba said.
He added: “We have reduced terror activities to zero and unified our people to move away from the traditional inter-ethnic clashes witnessed during the advent of devolution, “.
The Governor said Mandera has put in place strategic plans to improve skills of its work force by starting technical and teachers training colleges.
Mr. Roba noted the development of the county depended on an effective working force and asked the board to be guided by ethics to achieve its goals.
Mandera County Assembly Speaker Mohamed Khalif urged the board members not to serve tribal interests noting over 900 jobs were cancelled early this year due to charges of malpractices during recruitment.
He said the executive nominated experienced people who can withstand pressure of being influenced noting the region is hard to manage due to tribal inclinations of residents.
The county has struggled to manage its workforce by cutting down employment to save money for development expenditure.
Roba said the region had been neglected by successive post-colonial governments till the advent of devolution hence need to use a big chunk of its budgetary allocation in developing the infrastructural framework.
While other counties have already developed road network Mandera is still struggling to put up murram roads to open the region to the rest of Kenya for speedy development.
The board has been constituted more than two years after the last general election.
By Dickson Githaiga