Law students contest CA boss suspension in court

Estranged Communications Authority of Kenya Director General Francis Wangusi. [Photo: Courtesy]

Suspended Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Director-General Francis Wangusi has received rare backing from a group of university students.

Two University of Nairobi law students have moved to court seeking to quash the decision by the CA board to send Mr Wangusi on a three-month compulsory leave.

In a new twist to the intrigues at the telecommunications industry regulator, the students argue the grounds used by the board to send Mr Wangusi home are below the constitutional threshold.

“The reasons cited in the letter dated January 12, 2018 go to show that the interested party here in (Francis Wangusi) has been discriminated against if at all the reason have not been used against every other employee and consequently sent all its employees for compulsory leave,” the court papers filed before the Employment and Labour Relations Court read in part.

The case was filed Mr Collins Agwenyi and Humphrey Nyongesa, who describe themselves as students of law keen on the respect for the rule of law.

Serve respondents

The authority’s board in sending Mr Wangusi on leave cited the need to “facilitate the forthcoming audit of human resources.”

He was asked to hand over the office to Mr Christopher Kemei, the director in charge of licensing, compliance and standards.

Justice Maureen Onyango has fixed a hearing on Monday next week before all the parties and ordered the students to serve the respondents.