NAIROBI, Kenya Jun 18 – The Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) Board of Trustees has defended the appointment of the agency’s new Director General, former Navy officer Brigadier John Waweru amid accusations that due process was not followed.
The Board of Trustees Vice Chair Betty Sereya has refuted claims that the appointment of Waweru was shrouded in controversy insisting that the law was followed and that the board members welcomed the appointment fittingly.
Sereya’s unpersuasive admission before the National Assembly Environment and Natural Resources Committee however, contradicts section 11 of the amended Wildlife Management and Conservation Act (2013) that stipulates that “The Director General shall be a Director General of Service appointed by the Cabinet Secretary in consultation with the Board”.
In his Executive Order 4 of 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Waweru even as it emerged on Tuesday during a parliamentary session between KWS board members and MPs that Waweru’s appointment was made despite an ongoing recruitment process which was ongoing then to replace Kitili Mbathi who resigned in July 2017 after serving for less than two years.
“When we start discussing an issue that has already been done then it becomes a little bit complicated, but all I can say is that the appointment was done according to the law,” Sereya said.
The Principal Secretary in the State Department of Wildlife Susan Koech who had accompanied other members of the KWS Board backed the legality of Waweru’s appointment albeit being elusive, pleading with the Kareke Mbiuki (Maara)-led committee to suspend the matter indefinitely.
“I would request that this matter to be suspended because we came prepared to handle different issues even as I still maintain that the appointment was procedurally done,” she said.
MP Were Ong’ondo (Kasipul) noted that a violation had been committed and that it was incumbent upon the agency to own up to the mistake.
“Just by reading the Act it is very clear that the law was contravened and it is very important that the same should be acknowledged,” he said.
Hillary Kosgei (Kipkelion West) decried that the processes of appointing individuals for the positions of the management of boards in the country were being done with a lot of impunity.
“We have seen a lot of lawlessness in the country particularly in the management of our boards. Just recently we witnessed the recruitment at Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) where the board had finished recruiting and forwarded the names but mid-air the CS in charge picked someone else who had not even applied for the job,” he said.
Kosgei was referring to the appointment of Bernard Njiraini who was selected to be the acting KEBS Managing Director by Trade CS Peter Munya even with the board having completed interviews and forwarded the names to him.
Benjamin Washiali (Mumias East) sought the intervention of Mbiuki to have the matter suspended to a later date even as the lawmakers vowed to take the issue before the floor of the House.
“I think it is proper as a committee we make this matter to be substantive so that we can even allow our colleagues to have their input on this matter. KWS are notorious especially on matters appointment and dismissing of its staff. We recently saw a former KWS former boss Evans Mukholwe who was awarded Sh28.9 million over wrongful dismissal,” he said.
Mbiuki ceded that the matter would be scrutinized at a later date given the sensitivity of the subject matter with the committee further resolving to invite Tourism CS Najib Balala to shed more light on the subject.
“We need to suspend the issue for the time being so that we can conclusively be able to deal with it in another meeting where the CS would be present,” he said.
