BY SAM ALFAN.
The hurried manner in which the appointment of Philemon Kiprop Kandie was made as the director-general of the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) showed that the board had predetermined him to the position, the Employment court has ruled.
Nullifying the appointment made by former Transport CS James Macharia in April last year, the court said the process was characterized by bad faith as the board appeared to have decided Kandie, who was the acting director-general must become substantive boss.
Justice James Rika of the Employment and Labourt court said the KeRRA board did not establish any ground that would justify the shortening of the 21-day advertisement period as required by the Public Service Commission Act.
According to the judge, there was no urgency to fill the position since Kandie had been acting in the position for one year and eight months.
“The other candidates were in the mind of the respondent ushers, in a procession, where the outcome was predetermined,” the court said.
Samson Nzivo Muthiani, an engineer who described himself as a public interest litigant moved to court last year to quash the appointment saying it was done contrary to the law and the constitution.
He pointed out that the position was advertised on March 22, last year and Kandie was appointed to the post on April 13, 2022.
Nzivo argued that the employer did not observe the 21-day rule as required in human resource policies and procedures manual for Public Service.
He further said the rule states that ministries and state departments should advertise all vacant positions in a manner that reaches the widest pool of potential applicants and allow for at least 21 days before the closure of the appointment.
He also submitted that the advertisement was required to disclose details of the post, title, number of vacancies, job description, specifications and the proposed remuneration.
But he says the advertisement was done hurriedly and applicants were granted 13 days to apply. It was also not placed on the Public Service Website, limiting the number of applicants.
He said only nine candidates applied because of the short timelines.
Three of the nine were shortlisted and invited for interviews and names forwarded to the Cabinet Secretary and appointed Kandie in consultation with the board for five year period.
The board informed the court that Kandie met the requirements and the process was fair and above board.
The board said Kandie had acted for the allowable six months and KeRRA had to fill up the position.
Further, the state corporation was not bound to advertise the position in the Public Service website but chose to advertise in a newspaper of nationwide circulation.
But Justice Rika said the advertisement was not made as required by the Public Service Commission Act, as it was not placed in radio and other modes of communication or public service commission website.
