Tourism CS Penina Malonzo's appointment of board members to two parastatals under her ministry has been challenged in court.
Mombasa-based Commission for Human Rights and Justice chief executive Julius Ogogo says Malonza violated the law in appointing board members of the Tourism Board of Kenya and the Tourism Fund.
Ogogo argues that the CS violated Tourism Act, claiming that appointed the individuals are outside the specified scope.
The Act on the establishment of the board of trustees of the Tourism Fund states that a chairperson shall be appointed by the President while the Principal Secretary shall be responsible for matters relating to finance.
The CS shall appoint six other members taking into account regional balance and gender parity, of whom two shall be nominated by the registered national tourism associations.
The other four shall be persons qualified and competent in the field of tourism, finance accounting, management or marketing, of whom two persons shall be nominated by universities, one person nominated by public universities and the other by private universities.
“In the case of the Tourism Fund, the CS acted against this principle by leaving out members of the universities and those from registered national tourism associations,” Ogogo says.
“We cannot allow a CS to blatantly violate the law as she wishes. We will be asking the court to overturn the appointment and reprimand her,” he added.
Last Friday Malonza gazetted Patrick Njeere, Joseph Sarisar, Dorcas Ayema and Silas Toochim as the new members of the board of the Tourism Fund.
For the Tourism Board, the Act states that out of the seven members two shall be nominated by registered national tourism associations and three shall be persons with knowledge or experience in matters related to international tourism, finance, business administration, law, marketing or a related discipline.
Francis Gichamba is the chairperson of the board of Tourism Board of Kenya.
Other members of the group include Victor Shitakha, who is a seasoned hotelier and the current Kenya Coast Tourism association chairman, Janeann Munyao, Alphina Bwaley, David M Tanki and Jacklyne Cherop Tai.
Malonza has been having issues ever since she was nominated by President William Ruto to the position.
The Kenya Kwanza leadership had to lobby members to overturn the Appointment Committee decision to reject her appointment as CS.
The committee led by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula had unanimously rejected Malonza's nomination by President Ruto on grounds that she lacks the requisite abilities and experience to serve as CS for Tourism.
However, MPs approved her nomination alongside 23 other Cabinet nominees following a special motion tabled in the House by Kitui County Woman Representative Irene Kasalu.
The motion was seconded by Endebess MP Robert Pukose.
