Is Matiangi the reason Dennis Itumbi got fired?
It has now emerged that the decision by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to sack Dennis Itumbi and four other PSCU directors was initiated through a letter authored by Interior CS Fred Matiang’i.
Matiang’i, in a letter dated Monday 16th of March 2020, asked the PSC to declare the positions of five PSCU directors redundant following reorganization in how State House handled public communications.
What did Matiang’i write?
The CS wrote the letter in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Coordination of National Development Implementation and Communication Cabinet Committee.
Matiang’i’s letter was referenced as OP/PA.3/91A of 16.3.2020 – and listed the five positions which should be scrapped:
a) Senior director of communication, events and branding (job group T/CSG4) – Previously held by James Kinyua Mureithi
b) Senior director of communication, speech writing (job group T/CSG4) – Previously held by Eric Ng’eno
c) Senior director of communication, digital, innovation and diaspora communication (job group T/CSG4) – Previously held by Dennis Itumbi
d) Director of communication, events and branding (job group T/CSG5) – Previously held by David Nzioka Musau
e) Principal information officer, head of digital strategies (job group N/CSG8) – Previously held by John Ndolo
On March 18th, less than 48 hours after Matiang’i’s letter was delivered, PSC CEO Simon Rotich announced that the five individuals were sacked with immediate effect.
Stated in the letter it was written:
The contracts of the five are terminated in accordance with termination clauses to facilitate the payment of gratuities on a pro rata basis,” Rotich stated in a letter dated March 18th.
As fate would have it, the sack order by PSC was made on the same day Itumbi was celebrating his 35th birthday.