NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 4 -Ezra Chiloba has formally taken over as the new Director General of the Communications Authority (CA).
Chiloba took over Monday from Mercy Wanjau who had been holding the position in an acting capacity following the exit of Francis Wangusi in 2019.
Chiloba’s appointment for a four-year term touched off raw nerves, with critics accusing the government of recycling officials accused of mismanagement of public resources.
Heavy criticism of Chiloba’s appointment came from former IEBC Commissioner Roselyne Akombe who fled the country soon after the 2017 elections and controversial politician Miguna Miguna who lives in Canada following his deportation.
“And with the appointment of the new CAA Director General, 2022 is sealed,” Akombe said without elaborating.
Miguna tweeted, “Chiloba Must Go!”
Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua wondered why the board settled for Chiloba, after keeping Mercy Wanjau on an acting capacity for long.
“??????? After keeping Mercy acting beyond the allowed legal maximum and subjecting her to multiple interviews. Merit or political expediency,” she posed.
When he joined IEBC, the soft spoken bespectacled Chiloba was a favourite among the youth who baptised him Chilo-bae. But it was not until after the 2017 elections that his name became an almost permanent feature on newspapers as a supremacy war played out between him and the commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati.
At the time, Chebukati wanted him out to facilitate an audit of the expenses for the electoral process.
Chebukati eventually suspended him to facilitate the audit of the expenditures.
He however, filed a case in court contesting his suspension but chose to resign later.
He then went farming in his Kitale farm where he largely kept a low profile.
Chiloba is a lawyer and policy consultant and principal partner with Chil and Kemp consultancy.
He holds an undergraduate degree in Law from the University of Nairobi and a Master of Arts degree from Central European University in Hungary. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Program Management from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
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