A petitioner has filed an appeal after the High Court dismissed his case against the appointment of James Githii as the KRA commissioner general.
Githii was appointed last year but Eldoret resident Joseph Sawe moved to the High Court to oppose the appointment.
The matter was transferred to Nairobi on Justice Stephen Githinji’s orders because all those sued were based in the city. Sawe’s case was consolidated with another by Kelvin Maina.
Sawe and Maina sued the Attorney General and Treasury Cabinet Secretary. The Kenya Revenue Authority and Githii were listed as interested parties in the matter.
Githii was appointed on June 4 last year by then CS for Finance Henry Rotich to replace John Njiraini.
But Sawe, through lawyer Kaira Nabasenge, petitioned the High Court in Eldoret, arguing that the appointment breached the Constitution and should be quashed.
He said the appointment of Githii, which coincided with the renewal of the tenure of Patrick Njoroge as CBK Governor, violated the Constitution’s provisions on national unity, the rule of law, participation of the people, equity, non-discrimination, equality, transparency and accountability.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had renewed Njoroge’s tenure on May 24.
“The appointment of the two public service officers at CBK and KRA is skewed and biased in favour of one community or ethnic group,” Sawe said in his petition.
Sawe said it was within public knowledge that Njoroge and Githii are from one ethnic community.
He also argued that at CBK, Njoroge had taken over from Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, while Githii is replacing Njiraini. All four, he says, share a common cultural background and descent.
Sawe said Uhuru and the Treasury CS violated the Constitution by renewing Njoroge’s tenure and appointing Githii.
“In a period of 12 days, they made two key appointments in the public service that are biased, skewed in favour of one ethnic group and it’s a clear demonstration of discrimination against other ethnic groups in the country,” Sawe says in the petition.
He said CBK and KRA are key financial institutions that are captives of ethnicity.
Sawe said the KRA board submitted five names of the top candidates to CS Rotich for the KRA position but he opted to favour Githii without justifiable reasons.
“We are asking the court to declare that the Gazzette Notice No 4857 dated June 4, 2019 on the appointment of Githii is null and void,” Nabasenge said.
But Justice Hellen Wasilwa dismissed the case and said the court was to determine if there were any constitutional infringements in the appointment of Githii as argued by the petitioners.
The judge agreed with the petitioners that KRA had been previously headed by individuals from one ethnic group yet Kenya was a diverse country with more than 42 tribes.
She said the petitioners also brought out the fact that KRA had never been headed by a woman or a person with disabilities.
But Justice Wasilwa ruled that although Githii hailed from the Kikuyu community the petitioners did not produce evidence that he was less qualified compared to other contenders for the same position.