Governor Kachapin sued for contempt of court

West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin and his deputy Titus Lotee have been sued for contempt of court.

Kachapin and his deputy were sued by four former County Government of West Pokot employees who were sacked for alleged incompetence.

The officers moved to a Kitale court to sue for contempt after the Governor and his deputy failed to reinstate them as directed by the same court over a month ago.

The four; Luka Chepelion former Roads County Executive Committee member (CEC), Catherine Mukenyang (Health and Sanitation CEC), Josiah Cheruyot (Fisheries and Livestock) and Joel Arumonyang (County Secretary) were all sacked by the Governor over what he termed as incompetence and poor service delivery.

They moved to court to contest the decision and the High Court sitting in Kitale before Justice J. Karanja granted stay orders stopping their sacking on July 9^th.

However, the Governor failed to comply with the court’s directive despite acknowledging receiving the order.

Governor Kachapin and his deputy were served with the contempt of court papers and are expected to appear before it (court) on October 13th to prove why they should not be committed to a civil jail not exceeding six months or imposing a fine for deliberately disregarding the court order.

The four sacked officials were supposed to resume duty pending the hearing and determination of the judicial review application they made opposing the Governor’s decision.

The sack by Kachapin followed a warning he had issued to non-performing members of staff that he would deal with them mercilessly.