• Says she has no special knowledge and skills that can override the bar in government policy
Activist Okiya Omtatah has challenged the appointment of Prof Olive Mugenda as Kenyatta University hospital non-executive chairperson.
In a petition filed on Tuesday, he wants the court to grant an order suspending the April 1 Gazette Notices appointing Mugenda and two others.
The other two appointed to the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital board are Kithinji Kiragu and Gladys Ogallo.
They are to serve for three years effective April 1, 2019.
Omtatah also wants the court to issue an injunction prohibiting Mugenda, former Kenyatta University vice chancellor, Kiragu and Ogallo from serving in the board until the matter is determined.
He says the appointments were made without subjecting the three appointees to a fair, open, competitive, merit-based and inclusive recruitment process, and that violates the law.
“The offices of chairperson and of member of the KUTRRH are public offices in the public service, subject to the Public Service Commission and must be filled through a fair, open, competitive, merit-based, and inclusive recruitment process,” Omtatah says in the petition.
He says President Uhuru Kenyatta unlawfully handpicked and appointed the professor the position.
“Prof Mugenda is not qualified for appointment to be chairperson of Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital because she is still an employee of Kenyatta University, therefore, she cannot sit on the KUTRRH board where the Kenyatta University Council is represented, and the university’s vice chancellor is a member. This creates conflict of interest,” he says.
“She is a pensioner as a former VC of Kenyatta University but her appointment to the hospital’s board (and, earlier, to the JSC) entitles her to multiple salaries.”
He says she has no special knowledge and skills that can override the bar in government policy.
Omatatah says Mugenda does not meet the integrity threshold as a result of proceedings he has filed before the Judicial Service Commission accusing her of allegedly colluding with Justice Monica Mbaru to defeat the course of justice.
The case will be heard at the Employment and Labour Relations Court.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya