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Kosgey throws back KEBS saga to board

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 4 – Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey was on Monday at pains to explain why the government had not appointed a Managing Director at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), a year after the former boss was sacked.

Mr Kosgey said he had not been given any feedback by the KEBS board – the National Standards Council – about the recruitment exercise which ended on September 16.

"We are still processing the appointment of the Managing Director. It is going to be a thorough process and we will announce it very soon," the Minister retorted to queries from journalists.

Media reports however point to the existence of a row pitting the Minister and his Permanent Secretary Eng Karanja Kibicho over a list of three short-listed candidates.

The PS who sat in the interviewing panel is said to have submitted the list to the Minister who reportedly rejected it saying the recruitment process had been manipulated. Eng Kibicho on his part accused a board member of trying to sneak in a name of a person whom the Minister supposedly favoured.

Mr Kosgey however profusely denied receiving the names adding that the board had not even met to deliberate the issue.

"I don\’t have the names. The board has never sat; it will sit on Wednesday," he said adding that he had no personal interest in the appointment of the standards body head.

"I am the Minister, so I have an interest in that there should be an MD but I have no personal interest except that as a Minister. I have responsibility to make sure there\’s a capable MD," Mr Kosgey maintained.

The operations of the Bureau he said had not been hampered by the lack of someone to head it adding that the acting MD Eng Joel Kioko was competent.

Mr Kioko the Director of Metrology and Testing was appointed in September last year in an acting capacity to replace former boss Eng Kioko Mange\’li who abruptly left under a cloud of controversy just a week after his contract was renewed by the ministry.

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Mr Mange\’li blamed his dismissal on politics arguing that he was sacrificed because of his stand on the maize scandal that involved senior politicians.
 

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