A Mombasa-based court on Tuesday, July 13, discovered that a fake court order was used to effect leadership changes at the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).
The purported order, which was widely covered by the press, purported to suspend KPA Managing Director John Mwangemi.
However, the judge presiding over the Employment and Labour Relations Court found out that the order was different from the handwritten instructions delivered last week.
Mwangemi has been cleared to assume office after orders suspending his appointment were expunged from court records.
Justice Byram Ongaya clarified that the order that allegedly quashed the KPA boss' appointment was erroneous and directed that a proper one be extracted, verified and served to the parties.
Through its executive director, the Commission for Human Rights and Justice, Julius Ogogoh, wants Mwangemi's appointment permanently annulled, arguing that it was made in secret and therefore violated the required recruitment process as provided for under the KPA Act and the Public Service Commission Act.
He argues that under the KPA Act, the CS is supposed to make such an appointment in consultation with KPA’s board of directors.
He also argues that the board, which was supposed to have consulted with Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani before the appointment could be made, is not properly constituted.
“He neither applied nor was shortlisted in the previous recruitment exercise that was done. The persons interviewed and shortlisted for appointment were rejected by CS Yatani, who has arbitrarily and capriciously and secretively appointed Mr Mwangemi,” the petitioner said.
Ogogoh argues that the secretive appointment of Mr Mwangemi deprived the other qualified and eligible applicants and the greater Kenya public of an opportunity to serve.
Mwangemi was appointed acting MD on July 1. He replaced Rashid Salim, who is on a three-month terminal leave ahead of his retirement in September 2021.
This is not the first time that a court order has been used to inconvenience officials. In September 2018, a fake order was used to gag members of the Union of Kenya Civil Servants(UKCS) who had hatched a plot to oust a top union official.
This incident comes after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations arrested an individual by the name Kamau Njagi in Nairobi's Kahawa West.
He was linked to fake court orders in Nairobi and Kiambu on Wednesday, September 2020 following a tip from the public.
Kamau is said to have obtained money by false pretence from unsuspecting clients while claiming he would represent them in court.
Detectives had also obtained recovered stamped documents bearing the names of various Nairobi-based law firms at the suspect's house.
