Two Bomet residents have sued area Woman Representative over suspected nepotism in her office.
Collins Barno and Stanley Kiprotich Bii say in a lawsuit filed in Nairobi’s Employment and Labour Relations Court that the MP violated minimum standards of transparency, fair competition, merit, and integrity in hiring her office personnel.
Six of the 15 employees the MP hired, according to the petitioners, are her kin.
Additionally, they assert that her relatives are collectively using Sh612,000 per month in salary out of the Sh811,000 set aside for employee salaries.
“While appointing the six persons, Ms Chepkorir also totally ignored the gender principle which is a requirement in public appointments as the dictates of the Constitution. There are only three women out of the 15 staff she has employed in her office,” court documents read.
The six are; Bett Kipkirui (county manager, office of woman representative), Dominic Mutai (deputy manager), Sheila Chepng’eno (county coordinator), Josephat Kiplangat (field officer), Pius Kiplangat (communications officer) and Emmanuel Kipkorir (media personnel).
The petitioners argue that the woman representative’s decision to appoint family members to public positions is not just a case of nepotism but also harmful to the administration of justice and the rule of law.
“Unless the said appointments are quashed by an order of the court, it will set a bad precedent in the country, where public institutions and appointments will be made unlawfully and irregularly on the basis of partisan consideration instead of strict compliance with the legal requirements,” they add.
They assert that they were waiting for the positions to be publicized before applying, but they were shocked to learn that the MP had specifically chosen family members and close friends.
“Some of the appointed support staff of Bomet County women Representative have serious integrity issues and are not fit to serve as public officers. They were not cleared by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) before appointment as required by law,” the complainants state in court documents.
They want the court to rule that Toto’s appointment of the six individuals is null and void, illegal, and unconditional.
Additionally, they are contesting her appointments because the public was excluded from the hiring process, making it illegal and an unfair labor practice.
The matter has been transferred to Eldoret by Justice James Rika who noted that there was no reason for it to be heard in Nairobi.
“This Petition involves Bomet County. The Employment and Labour Relations Court is in Eldoret, Kisumu, Bungoma, and Nakuru, which centers are nearer to Bomet, than Nairobi. There is no reason for the Petition to be filed and heard in the Court at Nairobi,” said Justice Rika.
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