The High Court in Eldoret on Tuesday revoked the government appointment of six directors of the North Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency.
Former MP Asman Kamama, one of the six, also lost his post after he was gazetted as chairman of the state agency.
The six had been appointed by former Water CS Simon Chelugui in March last year.
High Court judge Hellen Omondi ruled the appointments were unconstitutional, violated gender balance and said there had been no competitive recruitment.
Chelugui was later transferred to the Labour docket and his position was taken over by Sicily Kariuki.
Uasin Gishu resident Allan Tuwei had sued the CS along with the agency and the six directors including Kamama, Julius Murgor, Joan Maiyo, Douglas Tanui, Christopher Ekuom and David Chemweno.
Tuwei argued some appointees were from outside the region covered by the agency. He said the appointment did not adhere to gender balance as only one woman was appointed.
Tuwei filed a judicial review petition on April 9 seeking to quash the gazette notice and block the six from assuming office.
He said the agency jurisdiction covers Turkana, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet and Uasin Gishu counties, yet Kamama hails from Baringo county, which is not part of the area covered by the agency.
“It’s a requirement that members of the board should come from the counties that form the basin area as outlined in Notice 4 (Legislative Supplement No 4) dated February 4, 2020,” Tuwei said
He said appointment of the six was in breach of the Water Act since they did not come from counties covered by the agency.
Further, he argued composition of the board was not fair and does not represent Kenya.
The appointments, Tuwei argued, also violated Article 27 of the Constitution requiring that not more than two-thirds of the members of appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.
Kamama filed an affidavit in response on behalf of other respondents. He argued he was a resident of both West Pokot, Baringo and Nairobi. He said the CS was empowered by the Water Act to consider other facts including academic and professional experience in making appointments.
Concerning gender balance, Kamama said the CS still had powers to co-opt other members including women in order to have a balance.
Justice Omondi concurred with Tuwei, however, that there was no gender balance as required by the Constitution. She rejected the argument the CS still had powers to co-opt more women in the board of the agency in order to achieve gender balance.
“The mere idea that women are not deserving of appointments on merit, and should only benefit from being co-opted, is rather belittling of the women. It advances the historical concept of tokenism, with which women have had to contend in this country,” Omondi ruled.
Regarding competitive recruitment before appointments, the judge ruled there had been no compliance with statutory provisions in the appointments.
Justice Omondi ordered revocation of the gazette notice through which the six were appointed and barred them from assuming office.
(Edited by V. Graham)
