Three candidates shortlisted in race for top CCK post
Francis Wangusi, Acting Director-general ,CCK. Mr. Wangusi, the commission secretary and legal head John Omo, and Stephen Kiptinness, a former CCK legal officer and Telkom Kenya legal head, have now been forwarded to Information and Communications minister Samwel Poghisio for post of CCK Director General. Photo/FILE
Three insiders have been shortlisted for the hotly contested position of Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) director-general, as the board stuck to its tradition of recruiting telecoms industry players.
The names of acting director-general Francis Wangusi, the commission secretary and legal head John Omo, and Stephen Kiptinness, a former CCK legal officer and Telkom Kenya legal head, have now been forwarded to Information and Communications minister Samwel Poghisio.
“After a fresh round of interviews, the list was forwarded to the minister last week from which he is expected to pick one,” said a reliable source in the Information ministry, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to comment on the matter.
“The difference in the score between the two top individuals was huge and therefore we are confident that the person who will be appointed will be the right one for the job.”
Information PS Bitange Ndemo, while remaining non-committal on the identity of the shortlisted individuals, confirmed to the Business Daily that the list had been forwarded to the minister. “It is now up to him to select the person he deems fit for the job.
However, the law does not place a deadline within which he has to make the appointment,” Dr Ndemo said.
The three were picked from a list of 47 candidates who had expressed interest in the job that fell vacant after the High Court in May ruled the re-appointment of Charles Njoroge as director-general irregular.
Mr Poghisio had given Mr Njoroge another term in breach of the board’s recommendations that he was not suitable for another term after scoring 60 per cent in his appraisal against a 70 per cent cut-off mark.
The shortlist maintains a trend of picking insiders which the ministry said was due to the nature of the job. Former CCK bosses; Mr Njoroge, Mr John Waweru, Mr Sammy Kirui, and Mr Sam Chepkonga had roots in the defunct Kenya Post and Telecommunication Corporation, which was broken into Telkom Kenya, CCK, and Postal Corporation in 1997. “CCK is a highly technical institution and it requires somebody who has a good understanding of the sector,” said Dr Ndemo.
“This explains the trend where individuals from within the telecom industry are repeatedly preferred for the job.”
Final round
Mr Wangusi, who holds a master’s degree in Space Science (Satellite Communications) from the International Space University, France, has been the acting director-general for about a year now having taken charge in August last year.
His challenger, Mr Omo, holds a master’s degree in Law from the University of Sheffield and has previously been interviewed for the position—losing out to Mr Njoroge in 2008.
Mr Kiptinness is currently a lead partner at Kiptinness & Odhiambo Associates, a position he took up after serving at Telkom Kenya. He has previously worked at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation and Kenya Network Information Centre.
Mr Juma Kandie, the director of human resources at CCK, was one of three individuals who did not make it to the final round and the only employee to do so.
The search for the new boss comes at a time when CCK is planning to unveil new lower charges that mobile phone operators pay each other for calls originating from rival networks in what promises to change the face of the telecoms market.
The Mobile Termination Rate (MTR) is set to fall to Sh1.60 a minute from the current Sh2.20, but has not been effected due to lack of approval by the CCK board.
The MTR of Sh1.60 was arrived at as a compromise fee given that Safaricom was calling for a high fee while the CCK and the other three operators—Airtel, Telkom Kenya, and Essar’s Yu — were keen on Sh1.44.
