Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has threatened to sue the Kenya Investment Authority’s board of directors over what he claims is skewed hiring of the agency’s managing director.

An unnamed State House operative, Omtatah alleges, has been scheming to reward his personal assistant with the key position and that this is why the position has not been filled even after it was advertised five times.

 “It is no secret that an unscrupulous individual who works at State House, Nairobi, wants his Personal Assistant, who lacks the requisite basic quali[1]fications, appointed, but your Board of Directors has stood its ground,” says Omtatah.

External influence In a letter to board chairperson Sally Njambi Mahihu, the senator said that while many qualified Kenyans have been applying for the position, the board has refused to conclude the recruitment process due to external influence.

This, he said, has undermined the rule of law and drawn great public interest.

“It is a matter of increasing public notoriety that your organization’s Board of Directors has advertised the vacant position of Managing Director of Kenya Investment Authority four (4) times without filling it,” Omtatah says in a July 1 to the board chairman.

“Now, you are doing it for the fifth time. It is not the case that the position remains vacant because the earlier job adverts did not attract applications.

Far from it. “Many qualified and willing Kenyans have applied for the position every time it has been advertised.” The letter is copied to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, among other entities. Omtatah claims an outsider has hijacked the hiring process.

He accused the unnamed State House operative of trying to clear the way for his PA who allegedly was not shortlisted. The operative, Omtatah claims, has been prevailing on the board to include the PA on the list, adding that the board had removed from the list of candidates to interview the names of some of the most qualified applicants.

“It is now a foregone conclusion that the interviews will be a sham and the preferred person will be appointed,” he wrote. “By this letter, I demand that the Board revert to its old shortlist for the best candidate to be appointed.”