Nyeri Deputy Governor Dr. Caroline Karugu has moved to court accusing the Governor together with the County Secretary for refusing to pay her salary.
According to an application to the Nyeri Employment and Labour Court, Karugu has accused Governor Mutahi Kahiga and Secretary Ben Gachichio of withholding her salary since November 2019.
Through her lawyer J Harrison Kinyanjui, Karugu says that she has been denied access to her office since April 2019. She further says she has not been invited to any cabinet meetings and all the allowances that she is entitled to have been withdrawn.
The deputy governor further claims that all her staff were withdrawn for unknown reasons.
“In sidelining me in my official county activities, I was consistently kept in the dark concerning county mandates initiated by the Nyeri county executive committee. Consequently, I have not been able to follow up on the implementation of an array of these activities,” her application reads.
According to Karugu, the governor is treating her as if she had been suspended or even removed from her position which is unconstitutional.
“To the stated extent, the respondents have violated various constitutional provisions set out herein, entitling me to the relief I have sought,” she states.
Karugu says that she has never been removed from office. She claims that she has never been given any reason as to why she was being treated like that and that there had been no impeachment motion against her.
“I have at all material times diligently sought to execute this mandate professionally, with the greatest respect, and without in any manner encroaching on the duties, functions or professional space of the second respondent, the Nyeri governor,” she states in her application.
Karugu was sworn in as deputy governor on May 4, 2018, after Kahiga rose to the governor’s position following the death of Governor Wahome Gakuru on November 7, 2017, in a road accident.
The case will be mentioned on September 16 before Justice Nderi Nduma
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