The Employment and Labour Relations Court has temporarily suspended an order blocking the appointment of Benard Ngore as chairman of the National Standards Council.
This, after Ngore, who was appointed a year ago to the position, sought conservatory order seeking to stay last month’s suspension by Trade CS Betty Maina.
In his application, Ngore also wants the first respondent, Trade Cabinet Secretary be stopped from filling the position until the case is heard and determined. He has listed the Attorney General as the second respondent.
The application will be heard and determined on December 14.
On November 20, Maina squashed the appointment of the Ngore to NSC, which was made by his predecessor after activist Okiya Omtatah challenged it in court, arguing that they were not subjected to a transparent, competitive and merit-based process.
Peter Munya was CS Trade and Industry when the appointments were made. He also blocked the naming of six other members of the NSC — who are the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) board of directors.
In March, Ngore and Kebs MD Benard Njiraini defended their appointments, saying they have the knowledge and expertise to handle the jobs.
The position of CEO and chairman of Kebs are turning into proverbial ‘hot seat’, with office holders rarely surviving arrests over corruption allegations or being fired.
For inatsnce, in 2018, Ken Wathome, then NSC chair was pushed out of office and his position given to Ngore.
Njiraini on the other hand succeeded Charles Ongwae, the former Kebs MD, who was kicked out in January 2019 on abuse of office and withholding government tax revenue charges.