NYONG'O IN TROUBLE

Medical Services Minister Anyang Nyong'o was Tuesday taken to task over the unprocedural appointment of the Kenya Medical Training College director Dr Charles Olang'o Onudi.

Three Parliamentary Committees jointly faulted Nyongo for disregarding the list of persons shortlisted by the KMTC board for appointment, opting to unilaterally appoint a director for the college.

Prof Nyong'o is accused of ignoring all the three names which were forwarded to him by the board, by picking somebody else unknown to the board.

The minister in his defense however claimed to have acted under pressure and in the interest of the medical college.

He said the board was corrupt and incapable of making a proper selection of candidates for the position.

The act that created KMTC requires that the Minister appoints a Director to the institution under the recommendation of the board.

Last year the minister who was put on the spot by MPs over the appointment said he exercised his discretion not to renew Dr Timothy King'ondu's contract and to reject the Board's advice to pick from four names.

"The final selection was based on my discretion as the appointing authority," he told parliament in December, citing Cap 261 of the KMTC Act.

Prof Nyong'o further argued that his decision was based on consideration of the mismanagement history at the institution and that's why he chose to be guided by the EMU report.

He added that he could only pick candidates with scores above 80 per cent saying that none of the candidates presented to him met the benchmark.