This archive report was first published on 16 November 2019.
On November 16, 2019, the Employment and Labour Relations Court made a landmark ruling that nullified the appointment of the board of directors at the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA). The court found that ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru acted unconstitutionally in appointing Mahmoud Noor, Paul Mureithi, Laura Chite, and Jackson Kemboi as directors to the CA board.
According to the court ruling, the appointments by Gazette Notice No 6657 dated July 18, 2019, did not comply with the constitutional procedures and provisions in the Public Service Commission Act, 2017, on advertisement and competitive recruitment procedures.
Justice Byram Ongaya stated, “The court finds accordingly and returns that the appointments by Gazette Notice No 6657 dated 18/07/2019 did not comply with the constitutional procedures and provisions in the public service commission Act, 2017 on advertisement and competitive recruitment procedures such as open interviews and vetting, objective selection criteria based on qualifications and then the appointment of the most suitable candidates in the circumstances of the case.”
The ruling also quashed the appointment of Mercy Wanjau as the acting director general, raising uncertainty over the decisions made by the board and Mrs Wanjau in the past few months. CA Chairman Ngene Gituku appointed Wanjau as acting director general on August 22 to replace Francis Wangusi, whose second term in office expired on the same day.
“Any purported recruitment of the successor of Francis Wangusi as director general of the Communications Authority of Kenya as single-handedly conducted by the chairman of the board of the Authority is unconstitutional and unlawful as is hereby nullified,” read the court ruling.
The nullification of the board throws into disarray policy actions undertaken in the past few months. The CA has received and processed more than 41 applications for licences from operators seeking to roll out services including national courier, commercial free-to-air, and network operations.
