By Wanja Waweru

An audit report given to a Senate committee reveals that all of the staff members at Nyamira County Assembly, with the exception of one, are from the same tribe.

Nyamira County Assembly Speaker Enock Okello and Clerk Dan Orina testified before the County Public Accounts Committee that the devolved entity had 223 employees, 222 of whom (99.9%) were Gusii community members.

Orina informed the committee that the Abagusii ethnic group dominates Nyamira, and that most candidates for open posts come from the area.

“Since the county Assembly is already at the peak of the recommended personnel establishment, this matter may be addressed gradually going into the future,” he assured senators.

Orina further asked the House to consider formulating legislation that will allow the transfer of staff from one county to another.

Section 65 (1) of the County Governments Act, 2012 provides that at least 30 per cent of the vacant posts at entry level be filled by candidates who are not from the dominant ethnic community in a county.

“In the circumstance, the County Assembly is in breach of the law on promotion of ethnic diversity in employment,” a report of the Auditor General said.

In order to react to the Auditor General’s Report on the Assembly’s Financial Statements for the 2019–2020 Fiscal Year, Okello and Orina had appeared before the committee.

More questions are emerging over whether the Kasarani Police officers may have been compromised even as investigations into Jeff Mwathi’s death took a new twist on Friday.

Mwathi died under mysterious circumstances afterbeing seen in musician DJ Fatxo’s apartment earlier.

Uncertainties emerged over the exit point on the building where the deceased fell from.

According to detectives who visited DJ Fatxo’s apartment, the window where Mwathi is believed to have jumped from had grills making it impossible for an adult to jump through.

Instead, detectives are now considering whether the 23-year-old may have fallen from the rooftop.

Police in Machakos County detained a man they believe was posing as a Firearms Licensing Board (FLB) investigator.

Detectives discovered Dominic Ondari Ombogi, 42, at his Nguluni home in Matungulu with a variety of forged FLB papers and stamps.

Following a court order received from Kahawa Law Courts, his arrest was made possible by intelligence reports that identified him as the brains behind a terrible organization that issued phony firearm certificates to unscreened applicants.

“Ondari has been battling accusations of Stealing a Firearm and Making a Document Without Authority at the City Court, and has been out on Sh 500,000 bond,” police said on Monday.

In the ongoing investigation, the man is accused of tricking a Kajiado youth into thinking he could change the firearm’s certificate into his name, then subjecting the unknowing victim to endless paperwork that resulted in the theft of the weapon.

Police claim that early investigations have shown that Ondari, who purports to be a well-connected resource person on the firearms board, has only ever operated in the criminal underworld and has never held the position he claims to have at the Firearms Licensing Board.

“Upon his arrest, assorted filled firearm application forms, psychiatrist reports from Mathari Referral Hospital bearing different names, a seal from the Central Firearms Bureau, various FLB and Armatech Kenya Ltd rubbers stamps, four civilian firearm certificates, forged letters allegedly from the Nairobi region police command and several bank statements were seized,” detectives said.

Authorities said they had also established that jointly with others who impersonate officials in the board, Ondari targets vulnerable victims who are in haste to be cleared for the gun ownership, recklessly providing the fake certificates to anyone as long as good money changes hands.

“He even renews the certificates periodically at a cost of Sh 6,000,” police added.

The man was detained at Muthaiga Police Station to pave the way for investigations to establish other accomplices.