• The CEO post fell vacant following an EACC probe against Githaiga.
• He is under probe on allegations of falsifying his date of birth on his identity card to read he was born in 1958, not 1953.
Image: COURTESY
A row has hit the appointment of Tana River Development Authority acting chief executive officer to replace Steven Githaiga.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission asked the authority to sack Githaiga for lowering his age.
He is under investigation for allegedly falsifying his date of birth on his identity card from 1953 to 1958.
EACC boss Twalib Mbarak on September 7 asked Tarda chairman Jamleck Kamau to suspend Githaiga until the investigations are concluded and “to prevent further illegalities from taking place.”
However, the Tarda board of directors and the parent Ministry of the East African Community and Regional Government are not reading from the same script in getting his replacement.
The board nominated Gitonga Mbui, the current chief technical services manager, to hold Githaiga’s post temporarily.
Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed, however, nominated Emilio Mugo – who was sacked as Kenya Forest Services director general in March 2018.
A Tarda source told the Star in confidence that the board appointed Mbui in the presence of Regional and Northern Corridor Development Principal Secretary, who did not object to the appointment.
The board chair then wrote to the CS informing him of the appointment.
The CS responded by instructing the board that Mugo had been appointed the acting chief executive officer.
“They attempted to break into offices to install the newly recruited acting CEO,” the source said.
Adan was not available for a comment. Calls to his phone went unanswered.
For recourse, the Tarda board has written to Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua to help it deal with the standoff.
Their grounds are that the ministry’s move contravenes a circular from Kinyua on how to deal with appointments of acting CEOs.
The March 11, circular outlines what is to be done when a vacancy exists in the office of the CEO arising from criminal prosecution, retirement, resignation, end of term or any other circumstances.
In any of the cases, an acting CEO is to be appointed by the board in consultation with the parent ministry within seven days of the vacancy.
Kinyua directed state agencies that where the board is unable to source an acting replacement from within the agency, the chairperson should consult with the respective Cabinet Secretary to get an officer from within the ministry.
Such a person shall be seconded to the state corporation and appointed by the board in accordance with the law.
“In case of a vacancy arising from criminal prosecution, the board shall immediately initiate disciplinary proceedings to determine whether the conduct of the suspended CEO constitutes misconduct that merits dismissal and may terminate the contract of employment of the CEO,” the circular reads.
EACC, in its letter for Githaiga’s suspension, said investigations cast serious aspersions on his conduct.
Investigations, Mbarak said, established that the officer was first registered in 1979 and issued with an ID card 1901968 showing he was born in 1953.
In 2015, he applied for change of date of birth from October 20, 1953, to October 20, 1958, changes which were approved on the basis of a birth certificate he presented to the National Registration Bureau.
EACC says Githaiga has two birth certificates – one that was issued in Nyeri in August 1979 and another issued in Gatundu in January 2016.
The Department of Civil Registration, Twalib said, has confirmed the birth record issued in Nyeri as the true particulars of Githaiga’s birth.
The registration department has cancelled the record issued in Gatundu.
EACC invoked the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012; Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003; and the Public Officer Ethics Act, 2003.
Edited by Henry Makori