Court certifies urgent case challenging James Mworia’s appointment as National Infrastructure Fund CEO
The court directed Javan Onyango and Emmanuel Kiplagat, the petitioners, to serve the application on the respondents, who have been given seven days from service to file and serve their responses.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kenya has declared the dispute over James Mworia's appointment as the National Infrastructure Fund's first CEO as urgent, setting the stage for a swift hearing. Justice Stella Chemtai Rutto ordered that the case be addressed during the court's recess, following concerns raised by petitioners, Javan Onyango and Emmanuel Kiplagat, about the circumstances of Mworia's appointment.
The petitioners have requested the court to temporarily halt Mworia's appointment and prevent him from performing his duties as CEO until the case is resolved. The petition challenges Mworia's appointment on grounds of a conflict of interest, as he was a sitting independent director of the six-member board responsible for selecting the CEO.
The petitioners question the brief application period, which lasted approximately 17 to 18 days, and the stringent requirements for shortlisted candidates' clearance certificates from various regulatory bodies. They argue that these factors could have unfairly disadvantaged potential applicants and hindered transparency in the recruitment process.
The urgency of the case is underscored by the National Infrastructure Fund's mandate to mobilize up to Sh5 trillion in long-term domestic and international capital for national infrastructure projects. The petitioners contend that proceeding with Mworia's appointment without resolving the dispute could lead to irreversible decisions.
The case contrasts Mworia's appointment process with the earlier board selection, which involved a competitive recruitment process with 78 applicants, 16 shortlisted, and six appointed. The petition challenges the assertion of a competitive recruitment process for the CEO position and seeks orders to suspend Mworia's appointment pending the resolution of the case.
Written by urgent.news from Capital FM Kenya's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
