Details have emerged on how the fresh vetting process for procurement and accounting officers in the government, which was ordered by President Uhuru Kenyatta as part of a renewed war on corruption, will be conducted.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) is expected to engage an independent consulting firm with proven experience in the area to oversee the entire process.
As the body legally mandated to hire state officers, the PSC will handle the logistics while the consulting firm coordinates the technical aspects.
Capacity to deploy polygraph machines will be one of the factors taken into consideration by PSC when head-hunting the company in line with the Madaraka Day announcement by President Kenyatta.
The process that will see all procurement and accounting officers in state agencies, ministries, departments and parastatals vetted is slated for completion by June 30.
[caption caption="President Uhuru Kenyatta"]
[/caption]
The selected firm will be tasked with coming up with a schedule for all the interviews, with the officers already affected by ongoing cases expected to lead the list.
The first round of vetting will target a batch of at least 1,000 officials.
The directive faced a setback when the Employment and Labour Relations Court last week issued an order suspending it until 13 June when a case by activist Okiya Omtatah will be heard and determined.
In his submissions, Omtatah argued that vetting could be done while the officials were still in office, noting that a circular sent to them did not indicate that they were under any investigation.
"There are genuine issues that touch on the affected officers which must be canvassed before this court,” Justice Onesmus Makau declared while delivering the ruling.
[caption caption="Okiya Omtatah"]
[/caption]
