Court extends order barring Wambui’s appointment to NEA
The Employment and Labour Relations court on Monday extended orders suspending ex-Othaya MP Mary Wambui appointment as National Employment Authority (NEA) chairperson.
The orders were extended by Justice Stephen Radido after Wambui's lawyer informed the court that she is yet to be served with the petition challenging her appointment.
Justice Radido directed the petitioner, Kenya Young Parliamentarian Association (KYPA), to serve Wambui with court papers before November 14.
At the same time, Attorney General sought to have another similar matter that is also pending in the same court be heard together.
On October 23, Justice Hellen Wasilwa ordered that Wambui should not assume office until the petition challenging her appointment is heard and determined.
This followed the suit by the Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association saying that Wambui is not qualified under the law, policy and best practice.
"That Wambui has on several occasions personally admitted that she possesses a limited educational background which for all intents and purposes makes her unqualified and unsuitable to conduct the affairs of the chairperson of National Employment Authority in light of the specialist academic and professional requirements that were intended to be possessed by the chairperson of the said authority,” reads the court papers.
The petitioner says the former Othaya MP does not meet the requirements set by Section 10(2) of the National Employment Authority Act.
The Youth Parliamentarians further alleged that Wambui does not hold neither has held any of the qualifications or their equivalent as required by the said Act in order to qualify as a certified Human Resource professional.
“That impending catastrophe of the impugned Gazette Notice can only be arrested by declaring it unconstitutional,” they adds.
Further, petitioner through lawyer Duncan Akhulia, argues that the authority assigned to a State Officer is public trust and should be exercised in a manner that is constitutional.
The Kenya Young Parliamentarian Association chairperson and Nairobi county Senator Johnson Sakaja, had instructed the outfit’s lawyers to lodge a legal complaint against Wambui’s appointment
On October 14 Labour CS Ukur Yatani appointed Wambui through a gazette notice.
