President William Ruto ignored his first order as the head of state as he sought to offer more positions to his allies.
Despite a court order issued against the creation of the Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) positions, the Public Service Commission (PSC) maintained that the advertisement was still open and the interviews will proceed as planned.
PSC chief executive officer, Simon Rotich, insisted that the exercise was subjected to public participation while opposing the law suit filed by the Law Society of Kenya.
He thus encouraged interested candidates to submit their applications for consideration.
Rotich added that the commission will shortlist and conduct interviews and, thereafter, recommend names of successful candidates to the President for appointment.
"Contrary to the public speculation, the commission has not cancelled the advert for the recruitment of Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS)," Rotich stated.
"The commission established the position in the public service after conducting public participation that closed on October 6, 2022. The public had been invited through a press advert to submit written memoranda to the commission indicating their views regarding creation of the position," Rotich argued.
PSC, which is charged with overseeing the employment of civil servants, argued that the suit filed by the Law Society of Kenya ( LSK) did not meet the threshold to cancel the CAS appointments.
On Wednesday, October 12, LSK told the Labour and Relations Court that creating CAS positions was likely to blot the wage bill.
LSK, led by its president - Eric Theuri - reiterated that the duties assigned to CAS can be executed by Principal Secretaries (PS). The society thus asked the court to cancel the advertisement.
PS positions already attracted applications from several Ruto allies who lost in the August 9 General Election, including former Lang'ata MP Nixon Korir and Mary Chebukati, wife to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Wafula Chebukati's wife.
In April 2021, High Court Judge Antony Mrima ruled that the creation of the office of CAS was unconstitutional. In the same ruling, Mrima argued that the Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) who continued serving after the 2017 polls without being vetted were in office illegally.
However, former President Uhuru Kenyatta ignored both directives.
