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The process of recruiting a director general for the Private Security Regulatory Authority (PSRA) to replace Fazul Mahamed has been halted.

This means the PSRA could operate without a substantive CEO and chairman, as the tenure of Adiel Nyange ends this month.

The State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC) cancelled the process following reports that it had not been endorsed by a resolution of a full PSRA board meeting.

SCAC has therefore warned about potential legal consequences if the hiring process proceeds in its current form.

Controversy had rocked the process, with some members of the PSRA board claiming blatant gross violations of recruitment procedures and regulations.

Conflict of interest

For instance, in what appears to be a clear case of conflict of interest, acting Director General Philip Leakey Okello has been sitting on the interviewing panel though he is an applicant for the same position.

After an uproar in the private security sector, a spanner has been thrown into the works, through an August 26, 2024 letter from SCAC secretary Simon M. Indumuli to Nyanga.

The letter drew the attention of Chairman Nyange to the legal implications of continuing with the recruitment process without an express resolution and approval of a full board meeting.

Indimuli was responding to complaints from Baljit Sokhi and Pius Chelimo, appointed members of the PSRA board who claim they have never been invited to any board meeting.

It has now emerged that the decision to advertise a CEO vacancy and the subsequent shortlisting and interviews of applicants were not discussed and approved by a full PSRA boarding meeting and a resolution, as required by the law.

The announcement that invited candidates to apply for the CEO’s position was published on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in MyGov, a government publication.

The notice said the new CEO was to serve on a three-year contract, subject to renewal based on performance evaluations.

Applicants were required to submit their documents before July 31, 2024.

Reporting directly to the board of directors, the CEO wields authority over the PSRA’s operations, including crucial tasks like budget allocations, strategic planning and team management.

Unilateral decisions

During his six-year tenure, Mahamed never convened a full PSRA board meeting. He is said to have presided over PSRA through unilateral decisions. His tenure was marked by a myriad of controversies, including a dispute with COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli over workers’ remittances.

Without mincing words, Indimuli warned PSRA board chairperson Nyange: “Advertising for the position of the CEO, which was sanctioned by a board in which the duo (Baljit Sokhi and Pius Chelimo) did not participate and therefore [were] not well represented may attract legal consequences.”

The SCAC secretary also cited Nyange’s failure to acknowledge or respond to enquiries made by the two directors on their appointment as members of the PSRA board.

Locked out

The names of Sokhi and Chelimo were published in the Kenya Gazette by the Cabinet Secretary for Interior as PSRA board members with effect from September 24, 2023. But the two were locked out of a board meeting convened on April 5, 2024, without any explanation from Fazul, the CEO at the time.

During the meeting, Jackson Mbuthia was controversially elected vice chairperson of the PSRA board.

The PSRA board chairperson is an appointee of the President. Nyange’s term ends this month, and stakeholders are worried that the President has not appointed his successor.

The cancellation of the CEO recruitment process means PSRA will operate without a substantive CEO and chairman for some time.