Board loses bid to kick out CCK director

Differences in the Communications Commission of Kenya Board played out on Thursday when the Information minister revoked the suspension of the regulator’s director-general, just hours after the board had sent him on compulsory leave.

Information minister Samuel Poghisio, who claimed not to have been aware of the development, dismissed Mr Charles Njoroge suspension letter and said he would renew his contract.

“I wish to state that Charles Njoroge remains in office and that, as the appointing authority, I will proceed to renew his contract in line with the law,” Mr Poghisio said on Thursday.

The minister said the director-general had differed with board chairman Philip Okundi who he accused of unilaterally directed Mr Njoroge to proceed on leave pending investigations on alleged improprieties.

“This was not a decision of the board, but the chairman as a person. As such, it is ultra vires (beyond the powers), null and void,” he said.

Last December, Mr Njoroge wrote to the board requesting a renewal of his contract, but the CCK Board said he had failed to meet ] performance indicators. According to the board, Mr Njoroge scored 60 per cent, which was below the 70 per cent cut-off point.

However, Mr Poghisio contradicted this, saying the evaluation was out of 70 per cent, which gave Mr Njoroge a “very good” rating. Mr Poghisio said decided sought the opinion of the performance contracting office.

“Indeed, from the report and my view point as the appointing authority and those of the public in general, Mr Njoroge has performed satisfactorily and in line with expectations of his office.”

The board chaired by Philip Okundi (whose term ends in September) has nine other members with permanent secretaries Joseph Kinyua (Finance), Bitange Ndemo (Information) and Francis Kimemia (Internal Security) by proxy.

The board accuses Mr Njoroge of unfairly awarding Porting Access of Netherlands the porting licence and says Mr Njoroge has been spending most of his time on foreign travel.

Other board members say they have found it difficult working with him, and he has been making some decisions without the board’s approval.

Mr Njoroge, during his three-year tenure, says CCK has implemented several sector regulations aimed at protecting consumers and tackling anti-competitive behaviour among the operators, which has not augured well with some of them.

Among the issues that were hotly contested were the tariff and competition regulations, which Safaricom strongly opposed, and the laws on broadcasting.