The recruitment of the Coast Water Works Development Agency CEO could yet again be headed for controversy.
This is after the CWWDA board on July 24 forwarded names of three recommended candidates with the highest marks after interviews to Water CS Alice Wahome for possible appointment.
However, the board failed to attach the CVs and academic credentials of the three top candidates, according to CS Wahome, who on August 10 ordered that the board hold a special meeting over the matter.
“While I appreciate the effort and work done by the board, I take note that the CVs of the three recommended candidates and their academic testimonials were not attached. I also note that three candidates were not ranked due to missing certificate of leadership course,” Wahome wrote.
She said the documents are crucial in assisting her make the right decision and gave the board seven days to furnish her with the documents.
Muslims for Human Rights, a lobby group, said they are following the matter closely after getting wind of the same.
Rapid response officer Francis Auma said they are watching from a distance and will give a statement at the appropriate time.
“We have had murmurs from a section of the directors and one or two politicians about the whole thing but I have personally not seen the documents.
“Once I get the documents and go through them I will be able to authoritatively speak over the same,” Auma told the Star on Thursday.
Twelve candidates were interviewed on July 20 and July 21 at the North Coast Beach Hotel in Kilifi county.
The top three as recommended by the board were Aden Miller with 86 marks, Charo Simon Menza with 65.6 marks and Aboud Abdulhakim Bwana with 59.2 marks.
Immediate former acting CEO Martin Tsuma Mwango had 67.2 marks but failed to produce a certificate on leadership and a certificate of good conduct.
He would have been among the three recommended candidates.
Anthony Njaramba Kamweti got 77.4 marks but also failed to produce a certificate on leadership.
According to the CWWDA board, Tsuma said he had done the required four-week leadership course and presented a letter on the same but failed to present a certificate.
Njaramba, who would also have been recommended for appointment had he presented the certificate on leadership, stated he had done a one-week course instead of the required four-week course on leadership as prescribed in the advertisement for the job.
On Thursday, Jomvu MP Badi Twalib said Tsuma would have been the best candidate for the job because of his experience of the job having been acting CEO since March 2021, when Jacob Torrut was sent on terminal leave after a roller coaster ride as the CEO.
He said Tsuma should have been given an opportunity to present the certificate because he has already done the course and had a letter to prove it.
“We hope nothing sinister is going on because we want the person who will be appointed to solve the water problem at the Coast, especially in Jomvu,” Twalib said.
“Why did they not say he does not have that document when they appoint him in an acting a capacity?” he questioned.
The MP said the CWWDA CEO should be a person who will meet the expectations of the Coast people because water has been a big problem for the Coast region.
Another sitting MP and a former MP from the Coast region, both of who sought anonymity, said they fear there could be a plot to sneak in another name into the top three.
“If the board conducted interviews of the candidates and wrote notes to the CS that all the three top candidates had provided all the documents, how is it then that the most crucial documents in any interview, the CV, is missing for all the three?” posed the sitting MP.
The MP said they suspect a game is in the offing to alter the results of the interviews to favour a certain preferred candidate.
“We will not allow that to take place. The board has done its job. Let that work be respected,” the vocal MP said.
However, CWWDA chairman Daniel told the Star everything is above board and no game is being or will be played.
“The board is forthright and nobody is going to coerce us because the President himself has said the country must follow the rule of law,” Mwaringa said on the phone.
He said the board is guided and that he would not want people to start “thinking left or right”.
“We are going as per the mandate (we were given). We have Mwongozo to follow and we have the guidance of the President who has always told us, through the inductions, how to operate as a board,” Mwaringa said.
The board chairman said CS Wahome’s letter was specifically addressed to him and he has not shared it with anyone, thus, how it leaked shows how people like taking shortcuts.
Mwaringa said the CS is only looking for clarification and that no game is being played.
He took the responsibility on behalf of the board and admitted that it was an oversight on their part that they did not attach the CVs and the academic credentials of recommended candidates.
“What we did not submit on our side, and I take that responsibility on behalf of the board, we forgot to attach the CVs and certificates of those we recommended. That is what we did not do,” he said.
The board, he said, will attach the documents and forward to the CS, adding that the board’s legal officer has been instructed to do the same.
Mwaringa, however, said he does not understand why it is suddenly a matter of life and death when it comes to the CWWDA.
He noted Kenya Ports Authority did their CEO recruitment without much fuss and the same will also be done at the Coast Development Agency.
“I think there is something in here which I don’t know. I don’t know what people are fighting for in here,” he remarked.
He reiterated that the board has done its job remarkably well and got the suitable candidates and it is now up to the appointing authority to act.