Court Declines to Stop Prof. Olive Mugenda's Appointment by President Kenyatta

The Employment and Labor Relations court has declined to stop the appointment of Prof. Olive Mugenda as the Non-Executive Chairperson of the Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital board.

Prof. Mugenda will continue to serve in the position after the court dismissed a petition filed by activist Okiya Omtatah seeking to have conservatory orders stopping her appointment pending the hearing and determination of his case.

The court has ruled that President Kenyatta acted in good faith by making the appointment, adding that the appointment will be revoked if proved to be unconstitutional.

Omtatah wants the court to quash the appointment on grounds that it was made without subjecting the appointee to a fair, open, competitive, and inclusive hiring process.

He also argues that the office of Chairperson of the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral, and Research Hospital board is a public office; hence recruitment should have been done by the Public Service Commission (PSC).

“Under the law, the process for filling offices in the public service begins with the PSC advertising vacancies for the positions and inviting applications from qualified interested parties. The PSC then publishes the names of all applicants and later the shortlist." 

“The PSC then conducts interviews and avails an opportunity for public participation before appointing persons to the offices or submitting the names of successful candidates to appointing authorities for the appointment, ” Omtatah says in court documents.

He further claims that Mugenda is still an employee of Kenyatta University and cannot, therefore, sit on the hospital’s board where the KU Council is represented, and the institution's Vice-Chancellor is a member.