Kisii County Governor, James Ongwae was forced to step in and save the situation, following a massive demonstration which was organized by the Assembly employees over delayed salaries for the last eight months.
Addressing them at the Assembly ground, Ongwae said that he is aware of their grievances, and said he had formed a task force in bid to solve their plight.
“I had taken an initiative earlier even before you raised complain, I have to state categorically it is an issue which should be addressed by the County Assembly Service Board and it requires a lot of their intervention, but by next week you will know the next course of action,” he promised.
“I am informed that the taskforce has finalized the report, and the will be handed over to the County Assembly to make a decision.” Ongwae added.
The genesis of the problem started when the County Assembly Service Board (CASB) initially intended to recruit officers for the 72 and 17 positions, which had been advertised in the local dailies.
This prompted the County Assembly Employees to divert their animosity towards the County Executive, a move which was opposed by the governor.
It is stipulated in the Kenyan Constitution, 2010 that county government must have two separate arms of county government, namely The County Executive and The County Assembly, as they have separate emolument budgets.
The demonstrators chanted songs in praise of the county governor to salvage them, “We can only listen to the governor, ‘yeye ndio baba yetu’ (he is our father),” they chanted.
The demonstrating employees have issued an ultimatum till the end of next week, failure to which they will resort for other avenues.