Row over naming of Kebs boss

A fresh controversy is brewing at the Ministry of Industrialisation over the appointment of the head of the Kenya Bureau of Standards.

The controversy involves the Permanent Secretary, Mr Karanja Kibicho, and the minister, Mr Henry Kosgey, who has refused to name a new managing director despite having received from the board three names from which to make a selection.

Correspondence seen by the Sunday Nation carries allegations of impropriety within the Kebs board, which interviewed and selected the best three candidates.

But Mr Kosgey alleges there had been manipulation of the results by a member of the board, which resulted in the knocking off from the list of one of the candidates for the post.

The PS denies the allegation in a strongly worded reply to the memo from the minister, saying he sat in the committee over the two days of interviews as a supervisor and participant.

The board had received 74 applications when it advertised the position last August, with 15 qualifying for the shortlist and 11 being interviewed by an external consultant as well as the board.

In his letter, the PS suggests the results had then been manipulated by an ad hoc committee of the board, whose intention was to ensure a particular candidate favoured by the minister made it to the final list.

“The purported report by the ad hoc committee was not tabled for discussion by the National Standards Council and I can only interpret it to be a tool by a malicious council member wanting to distort facts and mislead you,” the PS says in his memo to the minister.

The ad hoc committee’s report to the minister appears to have been the basis for his refusal to appoint the new MD.

Mr Kibicho also advised the minister not to disregard the recruitment process, saying he should appoint the MD from the list provided by the National Standards Council.

“I have difficulties in going against the decision by the National Standards Council considering that I personally participated in this process and will, therefore, not support the appointment of . . . (the minister’s candidate),” said the PS.

In a letter addressed to the chairman of the National Standards Council dated September 27, Mr Kibicho directs him to investigate the council member involved in the manipulation of results.

The second letter is copied to the minister, Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura and the Inspector General of State Corporations, Mr Peter Ondieki.

Efforts to reach the minister and the PS for comment on Saturday were unsuccessful. Mr Kosgey did not answer our calls and a text message sent to him was not replied to by the time of going to press.

Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua told the Sunday Nation he was not aware of the activities at the Standards body.

He said: “I’m not aware of the particulars of the Kebs matter but, generally, it is important to observe the law and the set regulations because they were meant to stop impunity and get rid of the Kanu era nepotism, tribalism, and massive looting of State corporations.”