Court quashes bid to stop vetting of procurement officers

President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the fresh vetting in his Madaraka Day speech on June 1 aimed at weeding out corrupt officials in his government. [File, Standard]

The Employment and Labor Relations Court on Wednesday set aside earlier orders stopping the audit of procurement officers.

Justice Onesmus Makau ordered that the procurement and finance officers proceed on leave compulsory leave to allow for the vetting.

He also directed them to provide their employer with the requisite documents for the audit within 10 days (Ending June 22).

In his ruling, Justice Onesmus indicated activists Okiya Omtatah who filed the case, failed to make full disclosure of material facts.

Omtatah did not disclose that he had a pending case against Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua on the same matter.

What next

According to a notice issued on June 4 by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, the officers will proceed on a 30 day forced leave as their deputies assume their roles.

The officials are then required to submit their personal information to Kinyua’s office as per the directive of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The information includes certified copies of mobile money statements of the officers and their spouses for a period of six months, and three-year income tax returns for they and their businesses for the last three years.

An independent consulting firm will be engaged to work with the Public Service Commission to weed out corrupt officials.

The independent firm is expected to conduct polygraph tests on the procurement and finance officers.