A 2019 directive by then President Uhuru Kenyatta to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) to employ 52 people has come back to haunt the organisation’s top boss.
A parliamentary committee is now demanding details of those employed, their qualifications and the salaries they earned after it emerged that those employed had Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) only while others had no formal education.
The Public Investment Committee on Energy and Commerce says the employment violated the law, which requires such positions to be advertised and competitive interviews conducted to pick the best candidates.
The committee, chaired by Pokot South MP David Pkosing, in a meeting with the KPA bosses led by the managing director William Ruto, said then managing director Daniel Manduku (now Nyaribari Masaba MP) should be prosecuted for implementing the directive without following the law.
While the MPs agreed that the presidential directive could not be ignored, it was the responsibility of the managing director to ensure it was implemented within the confines of the law.
“We need the names of all those who were employed under this directive by close of business tomorrow (today). If we find out that they have been earning irregularly, then the person who signed their letters should be sanctioned. As far as I know, he is now our colleague here in Parliament,” said Mr Pkosing.
He asked Mr Ruto to also provide the committee with a copy of the presidential directive by the end of today.
Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri urged the committee to summon the former president.
Aldai MP Marianne Kitany said the presidential directive did not supersede the law, which the CEO should have followed.
“Whether a directive is given or not, it does not give you the authority to break the law. When such directives are given, they’re usually implemented within the law,” she said.
In the audit reports for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years, it emerged that 52 employees were recruited in accordance with a presidential directive through letter reference MOT/C/SM/004/2VOL.II/65 dated 22 October 2019 on the employment of KPA choir members.
“Therefore, the new staff were recruited in contravention of the Authority’s Scheme of Service, which requires a minimum qualification of D (Plain) in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) to be employed as choir members. Consequently, management is in breach of the law,” reads the audit reports before the MPs.
Mr Ruto told the committee that while the 52 were initially recruited as choir members, they have since been employed as dockers. “You don’t need a qualification to carry or load sugar,” he said.
“The 52 choir members were recruited as port workers under a presidential directive. This necessitated the management to waive the KCSE D requirement to ensure that the directive was implemented without discriminating against any employee,” said Mr Ruto.
But the committee said that choir services can be outsourced, so it was outrageous for KPA to employ them on a full-time basis.
Mr Pkosing said he had been to KPA several times in official capacity but had never enjoyed the services of the choir.
