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The Employment Labour Relations Court (ELRC) has certified as urgent a case challenging President William Ruto’s decision to appoint businesswoman Mary Wambui as the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) board chair.

According to court orders seen by People Daily Digital, Justice Mathews Nderi said the matter filed by activist Evans Momanyi is urgent and allowed him to proceed with the case seeking to quash the gazette notice appointing her as the new chairperson of the CA board for a period of three years.

The judge declined to issue the temporary orders seeking to bar Wambui from assuming office pending the inter-partes hearing of the case.

The directives were issued after activist Momanyi filed the suit under a certificate of urgency seeking to overturn the President’s decision to appoint Wambui claiming she is incompetent and illiterate.

The petitioner is challenging Wambui competency on grounds that she has not met all mandatory requirements of the Kenya Information and Communication Act Number 2 of 1998 as any person appointed to that office must be a degree holder.

He also claims Wambui has failed the integrity test on the basis of Ksh2.2 billion tax evasion case against her that is pending in the Anti-corruption Court.

According to the activist, the President’s decision to appoint the business lady was irregular, illegal, and outright abuse of the law.

“The purported appointment lacks proper legal backing and this an abuse of the law and the specific procedures as provided for by the Kenya Information and Communication Act,” Momanyi says.

He further wants the court to allow him to institute judicial review proceedings in the matter.

The lawsuit comes after Wambui was on December 1 appointed by President Ruto to serve in the position for a period of three years after Gilbert Kibe resigned.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 6 (1) (a) of the Kenya Information and Communications Act, I, William Ruto, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces of the Republic of Kenya, appoint—Mary Wambui Mungai to be the Chairperson of the Board of Communications Authority of Kenya, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from the 2nd December 2022. The appointment of Gilbert Kibe is revoked,” a gazette notice by Ruto reads.

Notably, Kibe Gilbert was appointed by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in May 2022.

Before his appointment, he served as the Director General of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) among other roles.

Kibe resigned hours before the head of state appointed Wambui as the body’s chairperson.

As the chairperson, Wambui will oversee the operations at the Communications Authority.

Some of the functions include, licensing systems and services in the communication industry, facilitating the development and management of a national cyber security framework as well as facilitating the development of e-commerce.

Tax case against Wambui

In 2017, the tycoon was among 13 billionaires funding the re-election of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then deputy William Ruto.

Wambui will know the fate of her Ksh2.2 billion tax evasion case on January 10, 2023.

This is after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji sought another 30 days to conclude his decision on whether to drop the case or not.

Haji through, lawyer Judy, Thongori told Anti-Corruption Court magistrate Felix Kombo on Monday, December 5 said that he had not finished reviewing the case after he received another letter dated November 23, 2022 from Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on the progress of the out-of-court settlement.

“The letter by KRA over the substantial progress on the out-of-court settlement is being considered in this regard.

“Upon receiving the response from KRA, we have not had time to seek directions from the DPP Haji on how to proceed with the matter considering this new development,” Thongori said.