File | Nation The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) headquarters. The consumer lobby group, Cofek, has said it will pursue to its full determination a case it filed against the telecommunication industry regulator.
The consumer lobby group, Cofek, has said it will pursue to its full determination a case it filed against the telecommunication industry regulator.
Cofek, which lodged the case challenging the appointments to the board of Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) in January, also termed the recent advertisement of a consumer representative position by the regulator as illegal.
The lobby group was challenging Information minister Samuel Poghisio’s procedure in filling in vacant positions on the CCK board, saying members were handpicked and the positions were not advertised.
On January 28, Justice David Majanja, allowed the respondents’ time to reconstitute the CCK board while abiding by the spirit and rule of law. The case will be mentioned on March 14, 2013.
Cofek’s secretary general Stephen Mutoro said this would have perhaps meant that all vacancies at CCK be advertised.
He said due regard would have been made to the registered societies in the various disciplines that the seven private sector directors represent on the CCK board.
New advert
Cofek’s decision has been sparked by a recent advert by Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) inviting applications for interested persons to join its board as consumer representatives.
“The advert is, in our view, a nullity and doesn't constitute the expectations of the case in Court. Cofek will, therefore, proceed with the case to full determination,” said Mr Mutoro.
‘We advise members of the public to ignore the advertisement as it is a manifestation of impunity and arrogance against consumer rights.”
He added that the appointment and recruitment process remains purely a function of the minister and not of the Information permanent secretary.
“The MOIC advertisement deliberately mutilated provisions of Section 6 of the Kenya Information and Communication Act which requires that the Minister for Information and Communications appoints "at least one (person who) shall have knowledge or experience in consumer protection matters" and that "the Minister shall have due regard to registered societies representing such matters in exercising his powers under this section."
The media advert, he said inserted new and strange requirements in the words of "especially in the Information and Communications Technology Sector" and avoided the requirements of "knowledge or experience in consumer protection matters" and it avoided mentioning the requirement that "the minister shall have due regard to registered societies representing such matters in exercising his powers under this section."
It is only the consumer representative position that has been advertised out of the total seven - six of whom represent persons with experience in law; postal services; broadcasting; radio communications; information technology or computer science or on telecommunications.
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