EACC Faults Governor Kawira Mwangaza Over Husband's Appointment
The anti-corruption body faulted Mwangaza's appointment even though she assured that her husband would work for free within the county.
Marvin Chege 
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has raised a red flag on Meru governor, Kawira Mwangaza's appointment of her spouse, Murega Baicu to two county jobs.
In a letter addressed to the Meru governor, EACC Chief Executive, Twalib Mbarak accused Mwangaza of violating Chapter Six of the Constitution by appointing Baicu as the patron of Meru Youth Service and the Ambassador to Meru's hustlers.
EACC further raised an issue with Baicu attending official county functions and assigning duties to county workers despite not being a public officer.
The anti-corruption body faulted Mwangaza's appointment even though she assured that her husband would work for free within the county.
The first-time governor was also accused of hiring two of her sisters; one as a personal assistant and another as her security personnel.
Mbarak maintained that Mwangaza's declaration of his appointment was inconsistent with constitutional provisions on who is a state or public officer.
He also cited a conflict of interest in accusing her of directing county employees to further the interests of a station owned by her husband and that they should also use their social media accounts to promote her administration’s political activities, failure to which they would be sacked.
Another accusation levelled against her was the irregular recruitment of her acting director of communication and cleaners who were employed by a public declaration against the provisions of the law.
The EACC also put on the spot Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga for irregularly appointing 11 advisors, 10 of whom were deployed to her county government office.
It was said that Wanga also created 6 positions of liaison officers and 4 positions in the governors delivery unit, an act which was illegal in the eyes of the law. According to EACC, only the county public service board is mandated with establishing or abolishing public offices in a county.
Wanga however responded by stating that she consulted the county public service board before she made the appointments. She assigned the advisors to different dockets, including climate change, education, blue economy and fisheries, security and intelligence, political affairs and youth affairs to aid in effective service delivery to the county.
The liaison officers on the other hand were tasked with streamlining different sectors including boda boda, youth, women, sports, beach management units and persons living with disabilities.
Mwangaza's woes continued to pile up after Members of County Assembly (MCAs) went against her by walking out of her inaugural address. Some of them accused her of rejection, and that the governor was ungracious to requests of holding discussions with them and disregarding their demands.
She however defended herself by alleging that she visited 20 wards in the company of the respective MCA on each tour.
