CA gives two-day window for board position applicants
Candidates for the vacant Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) board positions have up to Friday to submit their papers after the Information ministry allowed for only two days to receive the applications.
The ministry’s principal secretary, Sammy Itemere, made the call for applicants in newspaper adverts Wednesday, even as the process to recruit the new seven board members is being challenged through two different court cases.
Mr Itemere directed interested applicants to visit the ministry’s website for details on how to apply for the jobs.
When reached for comment on why applicants have been given such a short period, a member of the selection panel told the Business Daily that there was in fact no obligation on the part of the regulatory agency to advertise the positions in newspapers.
“According to the Kenya Information and Communication Act (Kica) we are only obligated to announce the vacancies and call for applications in the Kenya Gazette and the ministry’s website,” he said.
“This was done through a gazette notice on February 5 but we decided to place the newspaper adverts so as to reach more people.”
Multiple changes to the Kica Act in 2013 deleted a previous requirement that board vacancies should be advertised in two newspapers of national reach.
Another change was the introduction of a seven-day period from the announcement of vacancies to close of applications, giving applicants a slim window to pitch for the positions.
The positions fell vacant following the withdrawal of an appeal against a High Court decision that the board be disbanded.
The High Court last year ruled that the board was illegal, but Attorney General Githu Muigai appealed the decision.
New ICT Secretary Joe Mucheru last week withdrew the appeal, effectively disbanding the board and leaving the positions vacant.
But the sacked board members on Tuesday said they would move to court to contest Mr Mucheru’s actions.
“The move to withdraw the notice of appeal violates the independence of the Authority and contravenes the Constitution and the relevant statute,” the board members said in a letter to Mr Mucheru.
In the letter the board also insisted that it was being dismissed for demanding that mobile telephony company Airtel pays a Sh2.1 billion licence fee.
