Sonko suspends blue-eyed boy Kerich, 15 others over collapsed school building
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on Wednesday suspended two CECs and 14 other top county officials over collapsed Precious Talent School in Dagoretti.
The suspended CECs are Charles Kerich (Finance) and Mohammed Dagane (Health).
In a statement, the governor said he was keeping his promise to Nairobi residents that he would leave no stone unturned.
“I assured Nairobi residents that as the Governor, I will not leave any stone unturned, until we reverse the effects of the impunity that was spearheaded by a few rogue officials within the Urban Planning Department,” the governor said.
“I have, therefore, suspended the Nairobi City County Government officials with immediate effect, to facilitate impartial investigations that have commenced into this unfortunate incident and the conclusion of the ongoing comprehensive systems audit in the Urban Planning Department.
Others on the chopping board are Justus Kathenge (County Chief Officer for Urban Planning), Jusper Ndeke (Director Planning Compliance and Enforcement), Dominic Mutegi (Development Management Director and Ochanda Ondari Fredrick (assistant Director Enforcement).
MR FIX IT
Others are Ruth Waruguru (director, Urban Planning), Thomas Dudi (assistant director Planning), Simon Onyango (Development Officer in charge of regularization of buildings/approval of architectural plans, Alex Mucheru (Development Control in charge of overseeing approvals of buildings and schools on behalf of public health and safety, Mackline Saitera (Development Control in charge of approving building plans and school inspection) as well as Edna Guantai (In-charge of approval of public buildings and schools on behalf of public health).
Also affected are Joyce Kyengo (Dagoretti South Sub-County Administrator), Lucy Wairimu Munyika (Dagoretti South Sub-County Commander), Sylivia Mwikali Nthinga (Dagoretti South Sub-County Planning Officer) and Okal Kennedy (Ngando Ward Administrator).
Mr Kerich was a darling of the governor who in 2018 appointed him to become his ‘Mr Fix It’ to coordinate all county departments.
He became his the go-to county executive whenever Mr Sonko was making changes in his cabinet having held forte at four county departments since being sworn in.
Apart from the ICT and E-Government that he was vetted for, Mr Kerich had been at the helm of Health and Land dockets in an acting capacity.