CCK boss gets a new term after minister blocks bid to oust him
Embattled CCK director-general Charles Njoroge on Thursday appeared headed for a new term at the helm of the telecoms industry regulator after Information minister Samuel Poghisio blocked an attempt to suspend him over of alleged misconduct at a board meeting held on Tuesday.
Mr Poghisio, who last month pushed aside the CCK board’s recommendation that he sends Mr Njoroge on terminal leave to pave the way for the recruitment of a new director-general, swiftly quashed the CCK board chairman Philip Okundi’s orders, terming them unlawful.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to state that Charles Njoroge remains in office and that as the appointing authority I will proceed to renew his contract in line with the law,” said Mr Poghisio, effectively clearing the cloud of uncertainty that had hang over the matter in the past four weeks.
Mr Okundi had asked Mr Njoroge to take a two-week break beginning April 7 – suspending him at a time when key decisions are due to be made on his application for a new term.
“It has been reported to me by the Technical Committee of the Board that at a meeting held on April 5, 2011, you clashed with the chairperson and the rest of the members in a somewhat nasty manner while conducting normal board business. I am also informed that you arrived for the said meeting one and half hours after it had began,” Mr Okundi said in a letter to Mr Njoroge.
“Looking at the present situation at the CCK, please do take some two weeks leave effective April 7 in order that matters may cool down”.
Legal experts said Mr Okundi had erred in attempting to suspend Mr Njoroge without consulting the minister, who is the appointing authority, but added that Mr Poghisio has also acted in breach of the law by purporting to ignore the board’s advise on the appointment.
“The minister’s claim that he consulted the Performance Contracting agency for a second opinion on the DG’s performance has no basis in law which requires him to act only on the advise of the board with regard to senior appointments at CCK,” said a corporate lawyer who is close to the board. “Moreover, the agency is only mandated to assess the performance of organisations and not individual said the source who cannot be named because of he works for some of the agencies.
It remains to be seen how Mr Poghisio will navigate the path to re-appointing Njoroge against the decision of the board, which has expressly recommended that a new director general be recruited to replace him.
Mr Njoroge’s is the latest in a series of personality clashes and political partisanships that have pitted ministers against boards of directors over appointments to senior public positions.
The minister, who is affiliated to the President Kibaki’s PNU side of the coalition, is said to have been chaffed by a suggestion from senior official from the Prime Minister’s office that he appoints a senior CCK official to take over from Mr Njoroge.
Mr Okundi had last month requested the minister, who is the appointing authority, to send Mr Njoroge on terminal leave after the CCK board voted to deny him a second term for failing to attain the set pass mark.
The board said Mr Njoroge had score 10 percentage points below the 70 per cent pass mark during an appraisal done at the beginning of the year.
Attempts to reach Mr Okundi for a comment were fruitless as he did not pick his calls.
Mr Poghisio’s promise to re-appoint Mr Njoroge raises the question as to he will work with a board that has opposed the renewal of his term.
Sources within the CCK board said Mr Njoroge’s departure was agreed in an overwhelming resolution by directors the majority of who have expressed difficulties in dealing with him.
On Thursday, Mr Njoroge insisted that there was no nasty clash between him and any member of the board.
“I am a civilised person and cannot go that far even if there were difference in principles or opinion,” he said, adding that “following the minister’s move, what we need to do is to cool the heat in the industry and move on to play our roles”.
Controversy over the director general’s position is expected to persist given the position that the board – the body that is legally allowed to advise the minister—has taken.
Mr Njoroge, 53, who has a Masters degree in Economics and a post-graduate certificate in Telecommunications Regulation, took over leadership of the CCK from Mr David Waweru on July 21, 2008.
He has worked with the CCK since March 1999 and has 28 years experience in the sector, having previously worked for the defunct Kenya Post and Telecommunication Corporation.
During his three-year-tenure, CCK has implemented several sector regulations it said were aimed at protecting consumers and tackling anti-competitive behaviour among the operators.
Some of these have upset some operators, who have not hidden their interest in having him out.
Mr Njoroge’s stand on some of the sticky issues has seen him take opposite positions with Information PS Bitange Ndemo.
Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia, who sits in the board is however reported to have been sympathetic to Mr Njoroge during the deliberations on his fate.
Among the issues that were hotly contested were the Tariff and Competition regulations in the telecommunications industry and the laws on broadcasting.
Others included issuance of frequency spectrum that operators want reviewed and the release of the operators.
