‘State projects’ that could have pushed Wangusi out of CA

When the board of Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) sent on compulsory leave its Director General Francis Wangusi a little over a week ago the reason given was to facilitate an independent audit into alleged malpractices in staff training and promotions at the regulator.

Last week, some sources partly blamed the suspension on a long-running Sh2 billion licence dispute that the powerful regulator lost to communications company Airtel.

However, correspondence seen by the Sunday Nation and multiple interviews with insiders indicate months of intrigues involving the control of billions of shillings and implementation of a market dominance report with Mr Wangusi caught up in the middle.

Mr Wangusi was not willing to talk in detail about what could have triggered his suspension. However he said that he too was puzzled with the action the CA board took on January 12.

“The letter I was handed talks about audit of human resources. That is all I am aware of and I cannot start speculating. The board is better placed to give any clarification,” Mr Wangusi said.  

REQUEST FOR MILLIONS

Letters obtained by Sunday Nation reveal efforts by senior people in government to have CA to raise millions of shillings to “sponsor” government projects and events which should have been having their own budget allocation from the National Treasury.

On November 19 last year, nine days to the swearing in of President Uhuru Kenyatta for a second term, the Principal Secretary for Information, Communications and Technology Sammy Itemere wrote to Mr Wangusi requesting CA to give Sh25 million towards the President’s swearing-in.

“I have been nominated to chair the Communication Sub-Committee that oversees the communication activities that will be undertaken before, during and after the Presidential Inauguration,” Mr Itemere says in the letter Ref: MICT/CONF/12/23 addressed to Mr Wangusi and marked confidential.

“The purpose of this letter therefore, is to request you to sponsor the Ministry’s communication activities with Sh25 million,” the letter adds.

WANGUSI DECLINED

It remains unclear whether the requested money was released by Mr Wangusi. But some sources told Sunday Nation that the director general declined to release the money.

Mr Wangusi told the Sunday Nation that the fact that he is out of office means he cannot comment on internal matters of the Authority.

ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru Saturday said he could not respond to specific issues we raised, blaming the emergence of the confidential documents on the recent upheavals at CA that led to the suspension of Mr Wangusi.

“If your HR (Human Resources department) told someone to go on leave why then do these issues that ‘there was this there was that’ come up? My view is that you let the board finish what they are doing or you talk to the board,” Mr Mucheru said.

Mr Itemere told the Sunday Nation: “Unfortunately, I will not be able to respond but if you feel it is prudent to publish (the story), proceed.”

ASSUMPTION OF OFFICE

The Assumption of the Office of President Act, 2012 which establishes the committee requires the National Treasury to allocate sufficient finances for its operations.

The 2017 swearing-in budget was Sh300 million.

The committee is also required under the Act to prepare a report on the affairs of the committee in respect to its financial statements among others, and submit the same to parliament within a month of the swearing in of the president.

But the requests for money from CA appear to have started much earlier.

For instance, on March 7, 2017, the ministry had also asked CA to sponsor the Ajira Digital Programme launch to the tune of Sh10 million.

The launch took place on March 17, 2017.

DEPOSIT 10M

On the eve of the launch, Mr Itemere directed Mr Wangusi to deposit the Sh10 million to the Central Bank of Kenya, account number 1000302461.

It is not clear what aspect of the launch CA was required to sponsor.

Meanwhile, in the run up to the August 8 General Election, the authority had been directed to tender for an emergency communication and alerts system through restricted tendering. The system was to be set up at eight stations across the country at the former provincial headquarters.

According to the June 9, 2017 letter from Mr Itemere, CA director general was required to convene a special board meeting to approve the project ostensibly because “telecommunication providers can also not guarantee full operations” during the electioneering period.

This could be an indication that the government was toying with the idea of switching off mobile and data network around election period.

“The government has noted with concern the increased potential for political violence, protests, destruction of private property and general disruptions during the election period. Terrorist attacks have been noted to follow the election calendars as the cases in France and England have shown,” the letter states.

MAJOR OUTAGE

The system that the government had in mind, according to the letter Ref. MICT/CONF/0/04 would have been capable of “ensuring communication during major telecommunication outages, ensuring law enforcement agencies have a secure backup communication system during such outages or situations that warrant such a systems use, ensuring emergency communication for search and rescue personnel, ensuring perpetrators of criminal activities are easily tracked and apprehended, and, ensure the equipment operates independent of existing network operators.”

However, our sources said because of the limited time available for such a major project, lack of budget for such a large scale project and lack of clarity on the law whether CA was the right agency to procure such high-tech security system, the authority ignored the letter and Mr Wangusi even refused to convene the special board meeting to discuss the matter.

This, according to some people with the knowledge of the matter, once again soured the relationship between Mr Wangusi and senior people in government who saw him as doing opposition Nasa’s bidding.

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION

The emergency communication system, according to CA insiders would have cost the taxpayer an estimated $88 million (approximately Sh9 billion).

Mr Wangusi, however, told Sunday Nation that he has always acted neutral even when Nasa was accusing CA of playing along to the alleged rigging of the August 8 election.

“I don’t think that I was making any statements on behalf of any individual or political player. I was very neutral,” he said.   

Mr Wangusi’s term has been controversial over his handling of media organisation, particular during the digital migration standoff with major TV stations and an order he issued last November directing that the return of Nasa leader Raila Odinga from a trip should not be broadcast live.

This followed clashes between opposition supporters and the police.

Before the August 8 elections, the Director General had also warned media houses against transmitting unofficial election results.    

As well as the fallout over sponsoring government projects and procuring the emergency communication system, implementation of the market dominance probe has also remained a thorny issue.

The final Telecommunication Competition Market Study in Kenya report has been available since August 2017 yet its implementation has remained a thorny issue.

The study was done by London-based Analysys Mason Limited and concludes that “Safaricom should be considered as a dominant player in the retail mobile money market.”

There is speculation that some people in the government were keen on frustrating the implementation of the report.

But Mr Mucheru said such suggestions are “all speculation.”