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KPA boss hiring to be aboveboard, says Obure

Transport CAS Chris Obure washes hands as Kwale county commissioner Karuku Ngumo observes at the Lunga Lunga border in Kwale county on Tuesday.
The government has sought to assure applicants for the KPA boss position that the recruitment will be aboveboard. 
Those interested in the job have until Friday to apply. The seat fell vacant after Daniel Manduku resigned on March 26 through a letter to Transport CS James Macharia. 
Manduku's resignation takes effect on June 1.  He is on terminal leave until then.  Manduku became MD in May 2018, taking over from Catherine Mturi. 
Transport Chief Administrative Secretary Chris Obure said the government has full confidence in the KPA board of directors to do an honest job. 
"We will ensure the exercise is open and transparent to the satisfaction of the stakeholders and the government," he said. 
Obure said only the deserving candidate will be recommended by the board to the Transport CS. 
“No name that does not deserve will be forwarded to the CS for appointment. That will never happen,” he said. 
“The KPA board has the moral and professional capacity to receive, vet, shortlist and call the deserving candidates to an interview and then recommend the best candidate for the job to the CS."
Obure's assurance comes amid fear among applicants that the board may have vested interests, thus skew the recruitment in favour of some individuals. The board this time decided to do the recruitment, unlike in previous years when it gave the job to an independent consulting firm — Deloitte Kenya. 
As a shift from the norm, the board advertised the position on April 6. All applications are to be done online and the deadline is Friday, April 24.
Insiders Yobesh Oyaro and Vincent Sidai are among the applicants. Oyaro is a long-serving senior manager in the procurement department. He was moved to Kisumu in a major reshuffle in 2018. Sidai is the general manager of infrastructural development.
On Tuesday, Obure allayed fears of conflict of interest, saying the Joseph Kibwana-led board took the oath of honesty and transparency.
“No conflict of interest, the board of directors decided to do that job. The duty is theirs according to the law, to do the interviews and identify the new MD,” he said.
He spoke at the Lunga Lunga border in Kwale county where he accompanied his counterparts Hussein Dado (Interior) and Rashid Abdi (Health).
Applicants who spoke to the Star on condition of anonymity expressed fear that the process may not be as transparent as it should.
“There is a lot of canvassing and vested interests in this. Some of us have applied but will not be surprised if we learn the MD has already been selected,” said one of the applicants. 
Another applicant said, "We have our fingers crossed, however. You never know. Maybe God may intervene and the process is transparent this time."
Their views were shared by the Commission for Human Rights and Justice, a lobby that has over the years been moving to court over the recruitment exercise. It wants the process televised live this time to make it transparent.
“We also want public participation. We want a mechanism where the candidates who will be interviewed are made to answer queries from the public because this is a public institution,” executive director Julius Ogogoh said.
Kibwana last week told the Star they are on top of the exercise and there will be no chance of interference.
“We shall continue receiving applications and since it is online, there is nothing we can do until that (deadline) day,” Kibwana said.

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