Court halts appointment of CA board after Omtatah's suit

A three-judge bench of the High Court has temporarily suspended appointment of the new board of the Communications Authority of Kenya.
The tenure of the current board, which served for three years from April 29, 2016, expired on Monday.
Judges Pauline Nyamweya, Mumbi Ngugi, and Weldon Korir granted the orders following an urgent application by activist Okiya Omtatah.
PROCEDURE
Mr Omtatah is challenging amendments to some sections of the Kenya Information and Communications Act (KICA), which he says were sneaked into law by Parliament through Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2018.
He argues the amendments eliminate sections of the law which provide the "all-important, fool proof procedure, complete with an independent selection panel, for ensuring the process of recruiting the chair and members of the board is fair, open, competitive, merit-based and inclusive, and that the resultant board is independent of the government".
He says in the court papers, "It is untenable to remove checks and balances which ensured the board was appointed through a process that guaranteed its autonomy as required under Article 34 (5) (a) of the Constitution."
MEDIA FREEDOM
The activist further argues that the amendments make it possible for the Information Cabinet Secretary to handpick and appoint his cronies to the board.
He notes that the move will strip the board of the autonomy required of it under that section of the Constitution.
Mr Omtatah also says that if the amendments are allowed, the board will be unable to discharge its mandate under the Constitution, including protecting media freedom as stated in Article 34 of the Constitution.
RESPONDENTS
Mr Omtatah has listed the Attorney-General, Kenya Law Reform Commission, National Assembly, Information CS, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and the Senate's Kenneth Lusaka as respondents.
The Council of Governors, Katiba Institute, Law Society of Kenya, Child Welfare Society of Kenya and the CA are interested parties.
The judges directed the activist to serve all the parties with the court papers.
The case will be heard on May 21.

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