Economy

Fresh bid to overturn hiring of CDF Board chief executive

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Parliament buildings. FILE PHOTO | NMG

A Nairobi resident has challenged the appointment of Yusuf Mbuno as the CEO of National Government Constituency Development Fund Board.

In a petition certified as urgent by the High Court, Mr Sam Kinyua wants the appointment quashed saying Mr Mbuno was not eligible for the job, having already served for the post for eight years.

Mr Kinyua says the CEO controls a significant percentage of the budget yet the appointment in May last year, was flawed.

“Unfortunately, because of flawed appointment, his loyalty will not be towards the Kenyan public but to certain groups with vested interest, not necessarily for the good of the public,” he said.

Although Justice James Makau declined to issue orders stopping him from exercising the functions of the office, he certified the case as urgent and directed him to serve the court documents ahead of the hearing on February 1.

In the petition, Mr Kinyua says Mr Mbuno should not have been considered for the job since he had already served as CEO since 2011, whereas the law demands that one can only serve for three years (renewable once).

Ineligible

“He was ineligible for appointment for the reasons that the NDCDF act section 20(4) sets out that one can only serve for three years, that is renewable once yet he had served for 8 years since 2011. The said provisions are to be read with Article 259 (1) d, (3) b of the Constitution,” he said.

Parliament, he says never considered the aspects of law violated and grounds of objection he presented to the Parliamentary committee during his vetting.

He says the approval was marred by open favouritism as MPs expressed support for him in advance, even before the vetting was done.

Audit queries

“The appointment and his stay in office for duration beyond the stipulated term is a result of an illegal and underhand ploy. Some of the members openly disclosed the mischief that they were employing ,” he said.

Mr Kinyua says there are serious audit queries tied to his term of service, for example in the Auditor-General’s report of August, 2017 the whereabouts of Sh1.8 billion under his watch could not be traced or accounted for.

The amount, he says includes over Sh300 million allegedly lost to Chase bank.