A case challenging the renewal of National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA)’s Director General term will continue on June 11/2024.
When the matter came for hearing before Justice Byram Ongaya of Labor and Relations Court, he was informed that some lawyers representing the petitioner who claims to have recorded a consent with DG George Njao were absent in court virtually.
The judge directed the petitioner to serve the respondents NTSA and the Ministry of Transport with applications within seven days.
Petitioner Edwin Were has since told the court that he did not consent to an order of settling the matter out of court and his lawyers did not involve him.
“The recording of that consent stands in a way of ensuring that the position of DG NTSA is filled using an un-competitive process,” he added.
Petitioner Edwin Were had moved to court last year to block the planned renewal of Njao’s term which expired in October. He was appointed for a term of three years back in 2019.
Were said Njao had applied to have his contract extended for a further three years and thus sought to have NTSA and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen blocked from accepting his application for term extension.
In orders issued on January 5, Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Byram Ongaya granted the prayers sought and directed NTSA board to proceed with the recruitment of a new director general pending further orders on January 19.
“The respondent (NTSA board) is at liberty to recruit a qualified person to fill the accruing vacancy in strict compliance with Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya on integrity and leadership,” Justice Ongaya said.
He certified the petition urgent.
The NTSA board is listed as the first respondent, while the Transport CS is the second respondent. Njao is listed as an interested party.
The petitioner had claimed Njao had not delivered during his three-year tenure as director general and that there was deliberate mismanagement and delinquency that occasioned the deaths of thousands of Kenyans through road carnage, which could have been avoided if he offered proper leadership.
More than 4,000 people lost their lives as a result of road crashes in the first 11 months of 2022, with NTSA data showing 19,285 victims were involved in road accidents between January and November 30, 2022.
Fatalities stood at 4,248, while some 8,756 victims sustained serious injuries. Another 6,281 victims were slightly injured.
The authority said road accidents cause losses of more than Sh310 Billion annually.
“Njao’s tenure has also been marred with extreme incompetence, which compelled lobbyists to institute legal proceedings to compel the authority to do its work,” Were said in his affidavit.
Oduor wants the matter reinstated saying the adoption of the consent by the court was made without his approval.
In a swift rejoinder, the NTSA board through Advocate Charles Agwara told the court that the adoption of the consent only meant that the matter had been settled and there was nothing left for the court to determine.
They said Njao had applied to have his contract extended for a further three years and thus sought to have NTSA and Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen blocked from accepting his application for term extension.
