President William Ruto has appointed Senate Speaker Amason Kingi's brother to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
In a notice published in the November 14 issue of the Kenya Gazette, the President announced the appointment of Engineer Michael Thoyah Kingi to serve as a member of the commission.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 230 (2) (b) (ii) of the Constitution as read with Article 250 (2) (b) of the Constitution and in accordance with the procedure set out in section 7 (13) of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Act, 2011, I, William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, appoint Michael Thoyah Kingi (Eng) to be a Member of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission for a period of six (6) years.
He will serve for a period of six years from the date of his appointment.
The new appointment follows a nomination that courted controversy, mostly because of his familial relationship to the Senate speaker.
Michael is also a former MP for the Magarini Constituency, having served from 2017 to 2022. He lost a reelection in 2022 after running via a Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) party ticket.
During his vetting by the National Assembly on October 21, Michael was put to the test by lawmakers, who broached that his political links might interfere with his job.
However, he told the MPs that he is not a member of any political party and would not be contesting for any seats in the upcoming by-elections, in which the Magarini constituents will be voting for a new MP after the Supreme Court nullified the election of Harrison Garama Kombe in 2022.
Kilifi South MP Ken Chonga, who was among those vetting Kingi for the position, claimed that his name was on the ballot for the November 27 by-election.
"There is a by-election running in Magarini, and from what I know, your name is on the ballot. Can you speak to the correct position about that?" MP Chonga has asked.
The former MP denied the claims, saying, "My name is not on the ballot. I think those on the ballot have already submitted their nomination papers. In fact, I do not belong to any political party, so no worries at all. For now, I will not be on the ballot."
Grilled on when he left the political party, as he had vied under one in 2022, Kingi said that he had chosen to take a break from politics and subsequently left the party after the election.
Following his appointment, he will join Chairperson Sammy Chepkwony and six Commissioners, including Maj-Gen (Rtd) Martin Kizito Ong’onyi, Mohamed Aden Abdi, Jane Gatakaa Njage, Dr Gilda Odera, Dr Geoffrey Apollo Omondi, and Leonid Ashindu, who took the oath of office on January 20.
