Mr David Kemei. He was nominated to the job of Director-General of Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK).
Two contradicting positions from the anti-graft watchdog regarding the suitability of former Kenya Re chairman, Mr David Kemei, for appointment as Director-General at the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), have left MPs in a dilemma.
The revelations surrounding the suitability of Mr Kemei, who was nominated by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, were laid bare before a joint sitting of the Finance and National Planning committee of the National Assembly and the Finance and Budget committee at Senate during his vetting on September 17, 2024.
Initially, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) boss Twalib Mbarak informed Parliament that in 2015, Mr Kemei was a board member at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) when a court found its directors guilty of irregularly recruiting a candidate for the position of Corporate Secretary. He said the Employment and Labour Relations Court had established that the appointment of Dr Miriam Ndunge was unfair benefit and an injustice to the Kenyan taxpayer as she was not qualified.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission CEO Twalib Mbarak.
By the time the court was making its decision, Dr Ndunge had served for about eight months, by which time she had earned Sh23.5 million "being the net proceeds from irregular employment".
“The Commission’s investigations established that the Board of Directors was responsible for the irregular recruitment. The nominee, Mr David Kibet Kemei, served as a member of the said board,” Mr Mbarak told the committee.
Surprise turn
But in a surprising turn on Tuesday, his deputy Abdi Mohamud informed MPs that EACC's letter to Parliament did not imply criminal culpability on Mr Kemei's part.
“The Commission wishes to clarify that our letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly and Senate does not purport to impute criminal culpability or otherwise on the part of the nominee since no criminal charges were brought or intended to be instituted against him,” said Mr Mohamud.
He was responding to a query from Mr Paul Lilan, the Managing Partner at Lilan and Koech Associates, which represents Mr Kemei.
The about-turn, coming just two weeks after Mr Twalib had informed Parliament about EACC's concerns over his suitability, raised eyebrows.
Molo MP Kuria Kimani, the chairman of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, assured that the joint sitting will make its decision on vetting the nominee independently.
“We are committees of the House...our judgment on whether to recommend approval by the two Houses is ours to make based on the material before us,” said Mr Kimani.
Besides this, members of the two House committees have also questioned why Mr Kemei was nominated by Mr Mudavadi yet he is already 60 years old, the public service retirement age. This, they reckon, makes him ineligible for the top job.
His recruitment process
Details before Parliament show that CAK's board of directors enlisted the services of ACAL, a local management consulting firm, to help recruit the CAK Director-General job.
In the ACAL shortlist also before the committee, Mr Kemei was ranked at position 29 out of the 31 shortlisted candidates, with a 60 percent score. However, in the interviews of shortlisted candidates, Mr Kemei came second with a score of 87.08 percent.
Mr Halake Waqo, who was succeeded at the EACC by Mr Mbarak, emerged the top candidate with a score of 90.41 percent with Mr Robert Mbarani coming third at 85 percent.
But even as the leadership at EACC issues contadicting advisories on his suitability, the manner in which Mr Kemei was appointed and his name transmitted to Parliament has raises doubts.
The Competition Act, which established the CAK, states that the DG shall be appointed by the Authority with the approval of Parliament from persons having knowledge and experience in competition matters.
However, while transmitting the name of Mr Kemei to Parliament for vetting, Mr Mudavadi said that the National Treasury had settled on Mr Kemei for appointment as CAK DG in a letter of August 6, 2024 to the Clerks of Parliament.
“The purpose of this letter is to forward to the National Assembly the name of recommended candidate Mr David Kibet Kemei for approval to be appointed the Director-General to the Competition Authority of Kenya,” Mr Mudavadi’s letter reads.
Mr Mudavadi’s letter was also done two days before Mr John Mbadi was formally appointed Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury. Mr Mudavadi, however, was the only CS in office after President Ruto fired his entire Cabinet after the Gen Z protests.
