For months, overflowing garbage skips, clogged drainage systems and litter-strewn streets have become an increasingly familiar sight across Migori County’s major urban centres, painting a grim picture of a department that has operated without substantive political leadership.
The deterioration of sanitation services in Migori Town, Rongo, Awendo, Kehancha and several emerging municipalities has become one of the most visible signs of the leadership vacuum left after the departure of former County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Environment, Natural Resources, Climate Change and Disaster Management, Julius Awuor Nyerere, who declined to renew his contract upon its expiry.
On Monday, the Migori County Assembly took what could prove to be a decisive step toward restoring order by vetting Mr. Omondi Edwin Owuor, Governor Dr. Ochilo Ayacko’s nominee to head one of the county’s most demanding departments.
The Environment docket has remained without a substantive political head for an extended period, a period during which residents, traders and business owners have repeatedly complained about declining waste collection services, illegal dumping sites and mounting heaps of garbage in public spaces.
In Migori Town—the county headquarters—overflowing refuse bins have increasingly become part of the urban landscape. Similar concerns have been raised in Rongo Municipality, Awendo and other rapidly expanding trading centres, where residents say waste collection has become irregular even as population growth continues to increase pressure on existing sanitation infrastructure.
The situation has also sparked concerns among environmentalists and public health experts, who warn that poor waste management increases the risk of disease outbreaks, environmental degradation and blocked drainage systems, particularly during the rainy season.
County officials acknowledge that the Environment department carries a broad mandate extending beyond garbage collection to include climate change mitigation, environmental conservation, natural resource management and disaster preparedness.
Without a substantive CECM providing policy direction and administrative oversight, critics argue that coordination of these functions has inevitably slowed.
Assembly Moves to Fill Leadership Gap
Against that backdrop, the County Assembly’s Committee on Appointments concluded the vetting of Mr. Owuor, with Speaker Christopher Rusana, who chairs the committee, assuring residents that the Assembly was moving expeditiously to ensure the department regains full leadership.
Rusana said the vetting process was conducted in strict compliance with the Constitution, the County Governments Act and relevant county legislation governing public appointments.
He disclosed that the Assembly had published public notices inviting residents to submit memoranda challenging the nominee’s integrity, competence or suitability for office.
However, by the expiry of the notice period, no objections had been received.
“We invited members of the public to forward any memoranda regarding the gentleman. So far, to date, there is no written memorandum. We shall be using the documents that he submitted plus the contents of the interview we conducted to make a decision on his suitability,” Rusana told journalists after the vetting exercise.
The absence of public objections leaves the nominee facing perhaps his most significant hurdle—the assessment by members of the Committee on Appointments.
‘No Delays on Our Part’
Speaker Rusana rejected suggestions that the Assembly had contributed to the prolonged vacancy, insisting legislators had acted promptly after receiving the nomination from Governor Ayacko.
According to the Speaker, the committee will immediately retreat to scrutinize the nominee’s academic qualifications, professional experience, integrity record and responses given during the oral interview before preparing its report.
“The committee’s interview is just a step part of the process; it is not yet complete. We shall retreat and sit to analyze the results and then make a report on his suitability. For now, we cannot tell if he is suitable or not,” he said.
The committee’s findings will subsequently be tabled before the full County Assembly, where Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) will debate the report before voting on whether to approve or reject the nomination.
A Department Facing Enormous Expectations
Should the Assembly approve his appointment, Mr. Owuor will inherit a department facing one of the toughest assignments in the county government.
Beyond restoring cleanliness in Migori’s municipalities, he will be expected to overhaul waste management systems, strengthen environmental enforcement, improve climate resilience programmes and revive disaster preparedness initiatives that have slowed during the leadership transition.
His office will also be tasked with implementing Governor Ayacko’s environmental agenda at a time when Migori faces mounting climate-related challenges, including flash floods, prolonged droughts, land degradation, deforestation and increasing pollution of rivers and wetlands that feed into Lake Victoria.
For residents, however, success may first be measured by something far more immediate: cleaner streets, timely garbage collection and the disappearance of the unsightly heaps of waste that have increasingly come to define many of Migori’s urban centres.
With the Assembly now entering the final stages of the approval process, attention shifts from the vetting room to the House chamber—and, potentially, to a department under pressure to restore public confidence after months of uncertainty.
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