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Court okays hiring of Media Council of Kenya chairperson, members
Media Council of Kenya Chief Executive Officer David Omwoyo during a past event.
The Labour Relations Court has lifted orders that had stopped the recruitment of the chairperson and members of the Media Council of Kenya, paving way for the process to continue amid ongoing legal disputes.
Justice Monicah Mbaru on Tuesday vacated the orders issued on February 16, 2023 in a petition filed by rights activist Dr Magere Gikenyi, who claimed that the selection panel comprised conflicted persons.
Dr Gikenyi, a surgeon based in Nakuru, had also claimed that the 13-member selection panel comprised members nominated without due process.
He alleged that some of the persons shortlisted for the jobs were in full-time employment in the media sector while others hold positions that bar them from appointment to the council.
But Justice Mbaru lifted the orders and allowed the process to continue pending determination of Dr Gikenyi’s petition.
Suspending the recruitment
She also noted that there were two other petitions filed at the High Court in Kajiado and Milimani over the same issue and based on the same facts.
The court heard that the petition before her was filed after the High Court benches at Milimani and Kajiado declined to grant orders suspending the recruitment.
“In view of the ongoing matters before the High Court, which have been placed together, this court will hear the petition on merit. The interim orders are vacated to allow the court to hear all parties on merit,” said the judge.
She fixed the petition for mention on March 20, 2023 before the duty judge.
Asking the court to vacate the orders, Mr Charles Erick Odour, one of the interested parties in the suit, told the court that out of all the applicants shortlisted for Chairperson and Member of the Council, the petitioner had taken issue with only three people.
Mr Oduor stated that the persons targeted in the petition had the qualifications stipulated in Section 8(1) of the Media Council Act and as such, they were both duly qualified and eligible for appointment as Chairperson and members of the board.
Interested parties
“The petition and application is discriminatory and unfair to the interested parties who are being exposed to public vilification by the petitioner on account of their hard-earned positions as workers and representatives of workers in the media industry,” said Mr Oduor.
The recruitment process began on November 29, 2022 by the then principal secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Digital Economy, state department for broadcasting and telecommunications Ms Esther Koimett.
She sent a letter to various entities asking them to nominate persons for purposes of forming a selection panel to receive applications for filling vacancies at the Media Council of Kenya.
The selection panel appointed Mr Emmanuel Juma as its chairman. After receiving applications, the panel shortlisted seven persons for appointment as chairperson of MCK.
They were Joseph Muiruri, Susan Karago, Charles Erick Oduor, Churchill Moses Otieno Auma, Tabitha Mutemi, Kennedy Onyonyi and Peter Munywoki Mutie.
The panel also shortlisted 41 persons to fill seven vacancies of members of the MCK board.
