BY SAM ALFAN.
A lobby group has moved to court seeking to stop the appointment of Terry Kiunge Ramadhani as the Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa).
Sheria Mtaani na Shadrack Wambui wants the court to stop Ramadhani from assuming office on July 1 arguing that the process was shrouded in secrecy.
The lobby group says the process was a sham because the agency failed to involve the public by not disclosing the names of the applicants, the shortlisted applicants and the dates of the interviews to enable members of the public to participate and give their views.
Justice Anthony Mrima directed the lobby group’s lawyer Shadrack Wambui to serve Kemsa within five days. The case will be mentioned on June 6 for directions.
“Unless the Interested Party’s flawed appointment is not quashed she will proceed to assume office on July 1, 2022 thereby rendering the entire Petition an academic exercise,” Wambui said in an affidavit.
He said if the court fails to stop the new CEO, it will have abdicated its constitutional duty as a protector of the public interest and the constitutional values and principles of public service.
“The Petitioner has reason to believe that the recruitment process was tailor-made to select the Interested Party, who served in the 2nd Respondent as its Director and Head of its Human Resource Committee, and only resigned a few days before the commencement of the recruitment process,” says the group.
They argue that they believe that Ramadhani, as the head of KEMSA’s Human Resource Committee, designed and developed the job description and job specifications of the 1st Respondent’s CEO thereby granting herself undue advantage in the entire process.
The lobby group argues that the process was marred by conflict of interest as she was selected by her fellow board members, who she served with until a few days before the recruitment process began.
This, the court heard, is a classic demonstration of the breach of the rule of law, tenets of good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability.
“The Petitioner has since learnt, from KEMSA’s press release, that she does not meet the minimum substantive educational requirements when examined under section 8 (2) of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority Act, No. 20 of 2013 as she holds a Bachelor of Education Degree,” adds Sheria Mtaani.
