Uproar Over Plans to Extend Tenure of Nairobi Water and Sewerage MD Nahashon Muguna
By Erick Ludeya Indula
A section of Nairobi MCAs have warned the Board of Directors at Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company against extending the contract of Managing Director Nahashon Muguna without following laid down procedures.
Led by Majority Leader Peter Imwatok,the MCAs have questioned the move by the MD to write to the board for extension of his term.
They claim that the MD will be attaining his retirement age next year thus not qualified to seek any extension.
The MD is supposed to retire in nine months time and according to the MCAs,he should be preparing to proceed on terminal leave before retiring to pave way for fresh blood at the water agency.
‘If you are an MD and your time to retire has reached please retire and go home and let someone else be nurtured,” Mr. Imwatok said.
The Makongeni Ward legislator questioned why the water agency has a tendency of unilaterally extending contracts of its senior officers without following due process.
He has called on the board to notify the MD of his imminent retirement which he should start planning for
Muguna was appointed the MD in August 2017 before being confirmed as the substantive MD in May 2020.
The law requires that a Chief Executive Officer or Managing Director of a state corporation seeking to be reappointed will indicate interest by writing to the board at least six months before expiry of his/her term.
The board will then evaluate the performance of the CEO or MD and make a report to the appointing authority with a recommendation on either renewal or termination of the contract upon expiry.
In the event that the board does not recommend renewal of the contract, the CEO will be required to proceed on terminal leave to pave way for the recruitment and appointment of a new CEO.
The position shall be declared vacant only when the Board of Directors has no intention to renew the appointment of the incumbent for a further term.
In the case of Mr. Muguna,his imminent retirement could make it hard for any extension and the MCAs are calling on the board to consider this as a big factor.
At the same time, the County Assembly is now pushing for tough regulations that will ensure all staff who have attained retirement age but still serving and those who have not been honoring their leave days are brought to book.
Nairobi has been grappling with a huge wage bill occasioned by overstaffing in certain cadres within its staff establishment.The Controller of Budget, the Auditor General and the County Assembly have on numerous occasions recommended for the reduction of the wage bill to comply with the provisions of Section 15 (2) (a) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
The county assembly is perturbed that despite these recommendations, the County Government and its entities has continued to recruit and even extending contracts of officers beyond the mandatory retirement age of sixty (60) years contrary to the provisions of Section 80 (1) (a) and (b) of the Public Service Commission Act, 2012.This is also contrary to Circulars Ref. No. PSC/ADM/13 (7) dated 19th November, 2020 by the Public Service Commission and Ref. No. MPSG& AA.1/5/1/1 dated 16th February, 2023 by the Ministry of Public Service.
The assembly is now demanding that all staff in the County Executive, County Assembly and Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCW&SC) service who have attained the mandatory retirement age proceeds to retire with immediate effect.
Additionally, the legislators want all staff who are due for mandatory retirement within the County Executive, County Assembly and Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCW&SC) service to proceed for terminal leave as prescribed under the Public Service Commission Human Resource Manual and applicable legislations with immediate effect; and
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