The promotion of an assistant chief to a chief in Abalatiro location, Ijara Sub-county continues to elicit sharp reaction with a section of residents residing in Garissa opposed to the move claiming that the administrator ‘was an outsider.’
Addressing the press in Garissa town Wednesday, the residents urged the government to revoke the appointment and re-advertise the position.
Osman Aden Salat’s initial recruitment as an assistant chief in the location was contested in a court of law.
Abalatiro location was curved out of Kotile location over seven years ago and has never had a substantive chief ever since due to wrangles.
Speaking on behalf of the residents opposed to the appointment Idriss Ahmed alleged that the recruitment of the administrator was illegal because of an ongoing case against former Ijara deputy county commissioner Julius Too.
He said that Too was charged with three counts in a Garissa court and one of them is irregular employment of Salat.
The residents said that the position is highly regarded at the village level and the government should tread with caution when appointing chiefs.
“The said chief does not hail from the area. He is a resident of Bothai about 150km away from the location. Communities living in the area cannot be able to work with him because he is an outsider,” Ahmed said.
He further noted that as a community they have officially raised their complaints to local government representatives including county and regional commissioners.
They alleged that the administrator was involved in a serious government operations including security adding that ‘outsider’ might not help in solving some of the issues.
Rahma Yussuf questioned the promotion of the chief despite an ongoing court case.
“We demand the revocation of the appointment and re-advertisement be done afresh. We want fairness,” Rahma said.
Last week two MCAs from Hulugho and Masalani accused some influential personalities from the area who were calling for the revocation of the appointments of chiefs and their assistants nullified in the area.
Abubakar Shide (Masalani ward) and Adow Omar (Hulugho ward) said they were aware that some politicians were ‘moving from one office to the other in the Ministry of Interior in Nairobi’ to influence the appointments to suit their personal interests.
They said they will resist changes in the appointments which were approved by the Regional Commissioner Nicodemus Ndalana.
Abubakar said the group are using their financial might to virtually influence all public appointments and in the process compromising the integrity of the process in appointing public servants.
“We are saying no to any attempts to scuttle the appointment of the chiefs and their assistants who shortlisted and interviewed based on their qualifications and experience,” Abubakar said.
By Jacob Songok
