Members of the Kajiado County Assembly (MCAs) have rejected Finance and Economic Planning Chief Officer nominee Sankaire Tima over what they term a lack of professionalism, competence and integrity stalling finance operations in the county.

Governor Joseph Ole Lenku reshuffled his County Executive Committee (CEC) members and Chief Officers in what he termed as streamlining service delivery, but the nomination of Tima at the said docket has raised questions.

Tima, who previously served in the finance docket before the appointment of Lekina Tutui in 2022, found himself at a crossroads after audit queries on breach of revenue collection procedures, undocumented payments, unsupported insurance and imprest transactions were raised resulting in his reshuffle to serve as the CEC Lands and Physical Planning.

Lekina has since been moved to the Water and Sanitation docket.

In a heated assembly session, the majority leader, Dalalekut MCA John Loisa, moved a motion to reject the reappointment of the nominee over his previous track record – a motion that was backed by other MCAs.

“Under his previous tenure, the nominee has repeatedly failed to comply with County Assembly procedures and has shown a lack of cooperation in financial matters, leading to frustration and inefficiency. The county experienced a severe decline in revenue, with a 36.3% decrease overall and a 37% drop in local collections for FY 2019/20.

“The role of Chief Officer for Finance and Economic Planning demands integrity, motivation, and an ability to work under pressure – qualities that the nominee has not demonstrated,” Loisa said.

Members of the public and contractors have also expressed disappointment with Tima’s appointment questioning his high endess and arrogant conduct.

“This is a House of order, rules and regulations. The individual mandated to serve the people must adhere to the outlined integrity issues and we have heard serious allegations raised against the said individual. This assembly has no option but to censor the said officer,” Bernerd Moloma, Imaroror MCA, said.

Attempts by Ngong MCA Mwaura Mbiriri to object to the motion, saying it was untimely and the governor has a right to reshuffle his officers, was cut short by speaker Justus Ngussur who raised a point of order saying the assembly members were acting within the law to question Tima’s character on the basis of evidence.

“It is never too late for this House to discuss questionable characters or issues raised,” the Speaker ruled.

Chief officer Douglas Konana, who was heading the governor delivery unit, was fired over poor performance while the CEC Water and Sanitation Leina Mpoke was demoted to acting county secretary while Francis Sakuda, who held the position, was promoted to CEC for Agriculture and Livestock.

Alais Kisota, Hamilton Parseina, and Alex Kilowua are among the CECs who retained their Finance, Lands and health dockets respectively.

The assembly’s move to reject the officer re-ignites a tug of war between the executive and assembly and is likely to delay key projects that can only be achieved when the Finance docket is operating.

This comes months after Lenku said he had buried a hatchet with MCAs and had resolved to work for the interest of Kajiado residents following a prolonged conflict that was pitting the assembly and the executive.