Crisis as Uhuru’s top team shortlist probed

The anti-corruption commission has launched investigations into claims of impropriety in shortlisting nominees for the positions of Principal Secretary.

The Public Service Commission (PSC), which conducted the interviews, is on the spot over how it shortlisted the candidates.

Thursday, Ms Irene Keino, vice-chairperson of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), told a press conference in Nairobi that its officials were investigating how the PSC had shortlisted candidates.

Principal Secretaries are the top level bureaucrats who will be the accounting officers under the new dispensation.

Well-placed sources said that among the issues being investigated were claims that pass marks and score sheets were arbitrarily altered to give advantage to preferred candidates and lock out others.

Depending on how long the investigations last, the delays threaten to disrupt the operations of the new administration which took over after the March 4 General Election.

Controversy erupted over a list of 66 candidates whose names were submitted to President Kenyatta, after it emerged that the pass mark was lowered from 80 per cent.

The PSC had interviewed 155 candidates before coming up with the list of 66.

The commission broke with recent tradition and interviewed applicants for the positions behind closed doors. The tradition had been for such interviews to be carried out in public.

PSC chairperson Margaret Kobia said this could have given an unfair advantage to some candidates. The commission has not released the names of the candidates presented to the President.

However, sources familiar with the list said four of those proposed for nomination were being investigated by the ethics commission.

The source also said EACC had raised the red flag over the integrity of 15 applicants.

Ms Keino said that the commission had received numerous complaints that the shortlisting was not above board.

“In short the process appears not to be free and fair,” she said.

It also emerged that Parliament approved the nomination of Cabinet Secretaries without scrutinising a crucial report on their integrity by the anti-corruption agency.

The Daily Nation Thursday learnt that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission was yet to complete its investigations into the integrity of the 16 Cabinet Secretaries, whose appointment was upheld by Parliament this week.

However officials at the anti-corruption watchdog defended themselves against blame, saying Parliament gave them little time to do the job.

Ms Keino said Parliament dispatched a letter to the commission on May 3, requesting them to avail any information on the Cabinet Secretaries by May 6.

“We wrote back to them indicating that it was impossible to complete the task within the set deadline but undertook to fast track the process,” she said.

And by yesterday, a senior commission official who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said investigations were still going on.

The official said it was practically impossible to investigate and issue a comprehensive report on the appointees in three days.

“Conducting background checks for the 16 people in three days is not an easy task. Digging up their backgrounds, lifestyles and others requires time. Remember, some of these individuals worked abroad,” said the source.

The sentiments arose from concerns from members of the parliamentary committee that vetted the Cabinet Secretaries, who accused the anti-corruption team of withholding information on the integrity of the nominees.

In its final report, the committee resolved that the commission should provide a status report on the nominees. Thursday, a source said the delay arose from the fact that EACC was still carrying out background checks on the 155 applicants for the job of Principal Secretary as requested by PSC.