Staff shuffle causes bitter rivalry in Nyandarua roads unit

Bitter rivalry between old and new staff managing the Nyandarua County road machinery unit has caused delay in completion of projects, a county assembly committee has been told.

 Recently, the county made changes in the running of the machinery unit by employing road engineers to take over the management from architects and building supervisors.

 “This did not go down well with the old staff since they had been comfortable working in the unit,” said the acting chief officer in the Department of Public Works, Roads, Transport, Housing and Energy, Josphat Ngige.

 He added that this has delayed formulation of a procurement framework agreement for repair and maintenance of machinery.

Ngige made the disclosure on Friday when he appeared before the county assembly departmental committee to explain the failure to complete road projects during the current favourable weather conditions.

 The committee said the department should not to have done a complete overhaul but should have left a few staff to serve as institutional memory and to train the new staff.

 Ngige told the Public Works, Roads, Transport, Housing and Energy Committee chaired by Weru MCA Mbogo Mburu that contractors and suppliers were avoiding doing business with the county government over delayed pay.

He said this had led to the grounding of most of the county’s road machinery, due to lack of spare parts.

He added that contractors and suppliers were complaining about bills that have been pending for a long time.

 The disclosure came as one of the contractors, Hannah Nyambura Ndugire, alias Cucu, was being buried in Kinangop, with mourners saying her health deteriorated after the county delayed paying her Sh70 million.

 She had paved Ol Kalou town and built walkways and stormwater drainage in a project funded by the World Bank. Then-Governor Francis Kimemia used to boast about the project, saying it was a great achievement.

The committee heard that the pending bills for service providers were causing lethargy in provision of repair and maintenance services.

 Ngige added: “Other departments have also formed a tendency of borrowing fuel meant for road construction without paying back. This is crippling our unit”. He was accompanied by the acting director of the department, Sammy Mugi.