- CA plays a key role in elections in terms of deployment of 3G network connectivity and equally has exclusive control of the country’s airwaves.
- The office is also mandated to promote self-regulation among data controllers and data processors, data having a central role in polls.
Image: FILE
Ezra Chiloba’s appointment as Communications Authority director-general has shone the spotlight on the fortunes of former IEBC managers handed crucial roles ahead of the 2022 General Election.
The CA on Tuesday announced in a statement by chairman Kembi Gitura that it had appointed Chiloba to take over from Francis Wangusi on a four-year term.
Wangusi’s term ended in August 2019 after which Mercy Wanjau was posted in an acting capacity. She held forte for two years.
“The appointment follows a competitive recruitment process to fill the position left vacant with the retirement of former director-general Francis Wangusi,” Gitura said.
Chiloba is the former CEO of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, his appointment pointing to a pattern by the state to hire ex-IEBC figures to critical posts.
CA plays a key role in elections in terms of deployment of 3G network connectivity and equally has exclusive control of the country’s airwaves.
This makes Chiloba the fourth high-ranking IEBC official to land a lucrative post in government, the first having been ex-deputy CEO Betty Sungura who was named Gender and Equality Commission chief executive.
In November 2020, former IEBC director of Voter Education, Partnerships and Communications Immaculate Kassait was appointed as Kenya’s first data commissioner.
The post put her in charge of all kinds of data, including those in respect of population, which are key factors to the general elections.
Her office is tasked with establishing and maintaining a register of data controllers and data processors as well as exercising oversight on data processing operations.
The office is also mandated to promote self-regulation among data controllers and data processors, data having a central role in polls.
Her appointment followed in the wake of the commission’s former ICT director James Muhati being named as chief executive officer of Huduma Kenya.
Muhati, who took over from the late Chris Msando, resigned from the IEBC to head the programme which is a Vision 2030 flagship project of the national government.
He emerged top in the recruitment interviews conducted by the Public Service Commission in November 2019.
But Chiloba’s appointment has been greeted by mixed reactions amid concerns he is being strategically positioned with 2022 elections in mind.
Kenyans have reacted differently to the development with some hailing the move and others saying there could be more to the timing of the appointment.
Lawyer Waikwa Wanyoike said it wasn’t an accident that Chiloba has been appointed director-general of the Communications Authority.
“CA is the organ that implements political decisions on internet, radio and TV shutdowns. With 2022 being an election year and with Uhuru so invested in manipulating his succession... Is it an accident that Ezra Chiloba has been appointed DG of CA?” the lawyer asked.
Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua also questioned the appointment as to whether it was on merit or political expediency. She expressed her disappointment on Wanjau not being picked yet she had acted for two years.
“After keeping Wanjau acting beyond the allowed legal maximum and subjecting her to multiple interviews. Merit or political expediency?” she asked.
Nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi, a member of the National Assembly ICT committee, said it was still too early to poke holes on the appointment.
However, he held that the post would have been best handed to an ICT expert and not a lawyer as is the case of Chiloba.
“I am aware that CA advertised the position. If in the opinion and wisdom of the board they have given him the job because he was the best, it is their decision,” Osotsi said.
He said that CA is very critical in the regulation of the telecoms sector, presenting a lot to be done in terms of regulation and growth of ICT infrastructure in the country.
“If he’ll do the job, why not? But for me, the most suitable person for CA director-general would have been someone with experience in the ICT sector.
“I don’t want to poke holes on what the board has decided but if they felt Chiloba had met the requirement we will wait and see how he delivers in his new job,” the lawmaker said.
The ICT committee, he said, will invite the new CA boss to brief the team on his vision for the CA and the growth of ICT as well as the digital economy in the country.
During a plenary on Tuesday, ICT committee chairman William Kisang (Marakwet West MP) said the team would task the CA to inform them of the status of 4G network in Kenya ahead of the election.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)