• He died on Wednesday afternoon at Nairobi Hospital where he has been undergoing treatment for some time.
• In late January, an appealed was sent to the public for blood donation.
Image: FILE
Former Communications Authority Director General Francis Wangusi is dead.
He died on Wednesday afternoon at Nairobi Hospital where he has been undergoing treatment for some time.
In late January, an appeal was sent to the public for blood donation.
"This is a kind appeal for blood donation for one of us Mr Francis Wangusi….who is admitted at Nairobi Hospital with low blood levels…” a memo sent by Friends Church Quakers senior pastor Walter Bulimu to church members on January 30 read.
Details of what he was ailing from were not provided.
Wangusi left the Communication Authority in August 2019 at the end of his tenure having been at the helm of the organization since August 21, 2012.
He first held the position in an acting capacity for a year before he was confirmed as the substantive CA boss.
In 2015, the CA Board renewed his tenure, a position he held until departure.
Wangusi was replaced by Mercy Wanjau who until her appointment in an acting capacity, was the Director of Legal services at the Authority and also served as the Board Secretary.
However, Wangusi exit was a bit dramatic after he insisted on staying on even after Wanjau was named and his replacement.
Then ICT CS Joe Mucheru at some point had a tiff with the late former CA telling him was a retiree as per the government regulations and had no option but to leave.
In an interview with a local radio station, Wangusi dismissed his successor's appointment and said he would not hand over.
“They are bringing in the most junior person, and I found it even difficult to make her run a department, I saw the news on media,” he said.
Wanjau is a commercial lawyer and a regulatory and governance professional who previously worked at KPMG South Africa, PricewaterhouseCoopers Kenya and the UN-International Telecommunications Union.
Wangusi’s official last day at work was on August 21, 2019, after a second and final term of four years as DG.
But four months later, he was yet to hand over after a series of boardroom fights and failed attempts to kick him out of the regulator.
This was after he fell out with his boss Mucheru over his refusal to help police fight cybercrime.
At the centre of contention was some Sh23 billion in several bank accounts of the cash-rich agency that the government wanted utilised.
He would later be sent on forced leave but he fought his way back through the court process and had CA resort to an out-of-court settlement.
A deal was reached that saw him serve the remaining bit of his term after CA lost a series of legal battles to force him out.