Joho bows to pressure, finally appoints Cabinet

Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho has finally bowed to pressure and appointed his Cabinet two days after residents threatened to challenge constitutionality of his government.

Joho announced renewal of contracts for four of his County Executive Committee Members (CECMs) after two months without a cabinet.

Mariam Mbaruk (Finance and economic planning), Godfrey Nyongesa Nato (Environment, Waste Management and Energy), Hazel Chemutai Koitaba (Health) Taufiq Balala (Water, Sanitation and Natural Resources) made it back to the Cabinet.

In a statement, Joho said the remaining six posts will be filled soon.

“Governor Hassan Joho, pursuant to section 30(2) and section35(1) of the County Government Act 2012 has today renewed contracts of the four CeCs, the rest of the appointments will follow soon,” the statement said.

Joho has been under pressure from residents to appoint CECs with some warning that he risks impeachment for running the County without a cabinet.

On Tuesday, a civil society group issued a 14-day ultimatum to the governor to appoint his Cabinet failure to which the organisation would move to court.

Commission for Human Rights and Justice Executive Director Julius Ogogo said  Joho had failed the residents of Mombasa by delaying in exercising his constitutional mandate by providing a functional government as envisaged in the Constitution.

Ogogo said the governor was in breach of the County Government Act No.17 of 2012 which ought to be challenged in a court of law.

“Your acts of remaining silent over such grave issue is denying Mombasa residents the right to work as county executives, as well as a improved services as taxpayers,” said Ogogo. 

Legal experts had argued that the county government was in a shambles.

Mombasa lawyer Yusuf Abubakar had claimed that the Joho government was functioning unconstitutionally because it was not fully constituted.

The 10 CECMs’ contracts ran out on November 12, 2019.

However, the county still does not have a County Public Service Board (PSB) after the term of previous members expired a year ago thus making it hard to hire  staff.

To complicate the matter, the employment contracts for chief officers who have been in charge of departments since exit of the former CeCs is also set to expire on January 31.

According to lawyer Abubakar, a cabinet is a mandatory constitutional requirement for there to be a complete county government, and therefore governor Joho is currently riding on an illegality.

“The Constitution describes a county government.  A county government is constituted when we have the executive and the county assembly. The executive is comprised of the governor and the county executive committee. Failure to appoint the cabinet is therefore a violation of the constitution,” said the lawyer.

Contracts of about 400 enforcement officers also expired last month without being renewed because there is no board in place to undertake recruitment or sign their contracts.