Naming of new NYS boss latest in list of appointment hitches

The confusion that surrounded the appointment of the new National Youth Service Director-General, Mr Ethan Richard Ndubai, last month has become the latest in appointment blunders under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s three year administration.

State House has on several occasions had to clear confusion caused by various appointments.

Three days after Public Service Principal Secretary Lillian Omollo announced the appointment of Mr Sam Michuki to replace Dr Nelson Githinji, who is facing graft charges, as NYS Director-General, President Kenyatta witnessed the swearing-in of Mr Ndubai.

(READ: Former PS Richard Ndubai sworn-in as new NYS director-general)

The article announcing Mr Michuki’s apparent appointment remained on an official government website, mygov.go.ke, hours after President Kenyatta swore in Mr Ndubai. The story was later removed.  

State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu explained that Mr Michuki’s appointment for three days was interim - even though the announcement clearly named him as director-general, taking over from Ms Clare Lwali, who had been acting after Dr Githinji left.

“What the (Public Service) ministry did was to announce an interim DG, effectively a stand-in, and this was widely reported; but now a substantive holder of the post has been appointed,” Mr Esipisu said in a media briefing from Mombasa on January 21.

DISCORDANCE

Although Mr Esipisu blamed the media for “cheeky articles”, the Opposition thinks the blunders are a symptom of a bigger problem. 

“This discordance epitomises the confusion that characterises the Jubilee administration.

It’s the result of the fierce competition raging within the system, driven by clashing interests of the respective internal ethno-political formations,” ODM’s secretary for political affairs Opiyo Wandayi said.

But Mr Esipisu told the Sunday Nation that the isolated incident could not be used to judge the government. 

“There may have been some miscommunication because such appointments ought to come from the Presidency. You cannot read too much into one incident,” he said.

But the latest seems to be an addition to appointments missteps.

ABDUBA DIDA - CDF

Seven months after being sworn into office as President, Mr Kenyatta revoked the appointment of his 2013 presidential election rival, Mr Abduba Dida, as chairman of the Constituency Development Fund board after he realised he had bypassed Parliament in doing so.

Further, noted Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo, a CDF board member was supposed to have been recommended by a nominating body.

“All board members must secure parliamentary approval prior to gazettement. There’s no way our committee (the National Assembly Select Committee on CDF) will allow such flouting of the law,” Mr Gumbo had said.

The President revoked Mr Dida’s appointment and former Maragwa MP Elias Mbau got the nod from legislators to chair the CDF board. 

In another instance, former Naivasha MP John Mututho was also announced as chairman of the National Authority for Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada), but this too was revoked weeks later since Parliament had not vetted him.

Mr Mututho was later cleared to chair the board.

JSC MEMBERS

Perhaps one of the most dramatic of the appointment blunders was that of a tribunal purportedly to investigate the conduct of six members of the Judicial Service Commission in December 2013.

In appointing the tribunal, the President “suspended” then commission members, Mr Ahmednasir Abdullahi, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, Mr Justice Mohammed Warsame, Prof Christine Mango, chief magistrate Emily Ominde and Ms Florence Mwangangi.

But the legality of the tribunal that was to be chaired by retired judge Aaron Ringera was contested both by JSC and the Law Society of Kenya.

High Court Judge George Odunga quashed the appointment of a tribunal, saying it may well be null, void and of no effect”.

DEPUTY IG GRACE KAINDI

Another appointment imbroglio involved then Deputy Inspector-General of Police Grace Kaindi last year.

State House said she had retired and would be appointed an ambassador.

But it appears she was not privy to the arrangement, and questioned the President’s powers to remove her from office and appoint Mr Joel Kitili in an acting capacity. The embarrassing situation reached the courts. 

Major-General (rtd) Gordon Kihalang’wa was never appointed despite the President nominating him as Principal Secretary in the Interior ministry.

He returned to his earlier position as Director of Immigration, where he remains to date.

Major-General (rtd) Kihalang’wa was to replace Dr Monica Juma, who the President had nominated to the position of Secretary to the Cabinet, replacing Mr Francis Kimemia, who was sacked.

But Parliament rejected Dr Juma’s nomination. She is now the PS, Foreign Affairs.