Chief Executive Officer of the Public Service Commission (PSC) Simon Rotich has defended their decision to reject the appointment of Peter Mburu as the Chief Lands Registrar following integrity issues cited by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
In response to a suit filed by activist Aggrey Wafula, Rotich in his affidavit says following the intelligence report, they rescinded the decision.
The move saw Mburu denied the Chief Lands Registrar job and PSC instead appointed Nyandoro David Nyambaso to the role.
He has not attached the letter from NIS to his affidavit on the ground that it contains confidential information about another officer who is not the subject matter of the petition in court.
Rotich however says the commission is ready to physically produce the said letter for the court to see in camera if need be.
Employment and Labour Relations Judge Byrum Ongaya who is seized of the matter said the Public Service Commission should inform Mburu and the other mentioned officer in the NIS report of September 29, that they have a right to examine it.
If they are in agreement that the report can be produced in court then they should file an affidavit in respect to the same.
The Judge has further directed that the matter be mentioned on 13 February for directions on the hearing and determination of the petitions before the court.
There are other two petitions filed in court over the same.
They have since been consolidated.
In further defending their actions, Rotich has explained that an appointment to any position only crystalizes once a letter of offer of appointment has been issued to a successful applicant who has accepted to take up the offer in writing.
“Mburu was not and has not to date been offered an appointment to the position of Chief Land Registrar as no letter of offer of appointment has been issued to him,” says Rotich
Based on that ground, Rotich said the court cannot therefore issue an order compelling an appointment to the position or assumption of office by Mburu when no offer of appointment has been issued to him.
He says the commission could not ignore the information provided by NIS especially considering the sensitivity of the position of Chief Land registrar.
“The commission can fail to pick a top candidate if they are not cleared by the relevant government agencies like EACC and NIS. The court can therefore not issue orders compelling the commission to appoint a person to a position simply because they emerged first in the interview,” he says.
In asking the court to dismiss the case filed by Aggrey, Rotich says Mburu did not meet the qualifications needed as he failed the requirements of chapter six of the constitution.
PSC advertised the position of Chief Land Registrar, received applications and shortlisted nine applicants. Mburu was one of the 9.
According to the court documents, PSC then wrote to EACC and the National Intelligence Service on August 31 this year seeking information on the shortlisted candidates.
They received a response indicating that Mburu had been charged in Milimani court with abuse of office. However, the charges were withdrawn by the DPP under section 87 (a).
Interviews were later conducted in September and Mburu emerged as the top candidate.
However, the PSC later received verbal adverse information about Mburu from the NIS.
This prompted the commission to revisit the earlier discussion.
The commission had discussed and resolved to appoint Mburu as the Chief Lands Registrar.
“The commission has demonstrated that a credible recruitment process was undertaken through which Mburu emerged as the top candidate, however, he did not meet the qualifications as he failed the requirements of chapter 6 of the constitution,” the commission said.