Appointment of Gender team chair on hold

The High Court has blocked the appointment of Winfred Lichuma as chairwoman of the Gender Commission until a case filed by women groups is determined.

Justice Isaac Lenaola barred President Kibaki and Chief Justice Willy Mutunga from appointing and swearing in the nominee into the position to allow the parties to address the matter conclusively.

The judge disagreed with the State, which was opposing the interim injunction on grounds that the appointment was of immense public interest. The same reason warranted the injunction, to allow all the parties to ventilate, the judge noted.

The parties also agreed that the petition, which was filed on Monday, should be handled by a bench of judges since it was likely to set a precedent. Justice Lenaola directed them to return to court on November 29.

The petition was filed by nine women’s organisations, which are protesting the criteria used by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga to nominate Ms Lichuma, the fourth-ranked candidate, for the position.

The principals declined to nominate Prof Maria Nzomo because of her ethnicity. An interview panel had ranked her the best candidate to lead the National Gender and Equality Commission.

The panel had also ranked Dr Jane Dwasi and Ms Violet Khadi Mavisi as number two and number three, respectively. The panel forwarded the four names to the President, to nominate one candidate from the list to Parliament, for approval.

However, the women groups accuse the coalition principals of violating the Constitution “by misleading Parliament as to the ethnicity and regions of the candidates.”

“Parliament appears to be on course of approving the said recommendation in spite of the foregoing violation being brought to its attention,” the petitioners told the court.

A Parliamentary committee last week recommended that the House should reject Ms Lichuma’s nomination.

The Labour and Social Welfare committee recommended that the name should be returned to the two principals for a review.

Prof Nzomo was rejected on grounds of ethnic balance. Public Service boss Francis Muthaura had written to Parliament stating that she is a Kikuyu, same as two of the commission's three members. Prof Nzomo was born of a Kikuyu mother and Kamba father.

The women’s groups have accused the President and Prime minister of assigning the candidates ethnicities and regions to which they do not belong so as to disqualify them.

“The said actions by the President and the Prime Minister have a real and present danger of discouraging competent professionals from applying for public office,” they state.