The Friday Morning reshuffle of Chief Officers at City Hall, has been greeted with uproar from a section of MCAs, who claim there is more than meets the eye in some of the switches made by Governor Johnson Sakaja.
Governor Johnson Sakaja reshuffled five County Chief Officers in a bid to improve service delivery in the County.
According to the changes made on Friday, Dr. Machel Waikenda has been moved from the Mobility Sector to the lucrative lands docket where he will replace Cecilia Koigu who has been moved to the ICT infrastructure docket.
Engineer Bob Ariemba has been handed the reins at Agricultural Works while Dr. Irene Muchoki has been moved from the Medical Services into Gender and Inclusivity ministry.
At the same time, Mariam Dubow who has been serving in the docket has crossed over to Medical Services.
The reshuffle has however sparked sharp reactions, with Sakaja facing criticism over the reassignment of Cecilia Koigu to the ICT infrastructure docket.
Nairobi South B MCA Waithera Chege has openly questioned the rationale behind the transfer. Chege argues that Koigu’s removal undermines the progress made in streamlining Nairobi’s notoriously complex land sector.
According to the MCA, Koigu had begun restoring order in a docket that has, for years, been plagued by disputes, double allocations, and legal battles—issues that have repeatedly drawn the attention of both the County Assembly of Nairobi and the Senate of Kenya through petitions from aggrieved residents and lobby groups.
Chege further framed the transfer as raising broader concerns about gender dynamics in governance. She suggested that moving Koigu from the Lands docket risks sending the wrong message about women’s ability to handle high-stakes, high-pressure portfolios.
“This move risks discrediting the significant strides made under her leadership and opens up unnecessary questions about whether women are being sidelined in critical sectors,” she said.
The MCA also cast doubt on Waikenda’s suitability for the Lands role, describing the docket as “too vast and demanding,” particularly given Nairobi’s unique land challenges. She questioned whether the transition was motivated by administrative strategy or other undisclosed considerations.
” I look at Waikenda’s past record in Kiambu and his reign in the mobility sector and all I am left with is a million questions on his ability to stand up as the real accounting officer in a serious docket such as lands,”
The legislator has called on oversight bodies and authorities to be on the lookout for a possible scheme to grab land by senior officers at the county.
” There are alot of petitions on land issued especially on evictions to pave way for some projects among them the Nairobi River Regeneration program , Affordable Housing and markets and we have to ensure no scheme to encroach public land is left to go through,”
A case in point is where widows in Nairobi have petitioned the Senate to intervene in long-standing land disputes and disinheritance cases, with recent reports highlighting issues surrounding the Single Mothers’ Association of Kenya (SMAK) and individual property disputes.
The SMAK petitioned the Senate to resolve a 30-year land dispute regarding a 0.2-hectare parcel of land in Nairobi that they have occupied but lack formal title for.
At the same time the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Lands has commenced investigations into alleged land fraud in a petition filed by Dave Walter Mburu, who claims he was fraudulently dispossessed of a 1.5-acre parcel, L.R No. 209/324/3,along Lenana Road in Nairobi.
Insiders at City Hall point to a possible scheme to have friendly people in line ahead of key projects including the redevelopment of Nairobi’s Seven Old Estates with Ngara already attracting a lot of controversies.
For the past one year , Cecilia had reportedly been at loggerheads with senior county officials over critical land issues.
Despite the criticism, the Governor’s office maintains that the reassignments are part of broader efforts to enhance efficiency across departments, noting that all changes took effect immediately.
The reshuffle now sets the stage for renewed scrutiny of Nairobi’s Lands sector—an area that remains central to the city’s governance, development, and public trust.
According to Waithera, the Governor has remained blind to other key sectors that have been subject to public scrutiny,among them the Urban planning department that has been on the spot over endless collapse of buildings with no administrative changes or any punitive measures.
She has also questioned why the Governor has been lenient to County Executive Committee Members who are the overall heads of key sectors.
