Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has suffered a setback after the High Court temporarily suspended his appointment of several board members to the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO).

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The court on Wednesday, June 10, suspended the appointment of Mercylinnete Rotich, Janerose Gatwiri and Nick Ocholla to the board pending the hearing and determination of the matter.

The court issued the orders after a petition was filed challenging the legality of the appointments, with the petitioners arguing that the appointments were made outside the existing legal framework governing appointments to state corporations.

"Pending the hearing of the application, a conservatory order is hereby issued staying the implementation of Kenya Gazette Notice No. 8032 and Kenya Gazette Notice No. 8033 on 29th May 2026 and specifically restraining the trio from performing the functions," the court directed.

📌 What You Need to Know

In the ruling, the court also suspended all resolutions and decisions made by the KETRACO board in which the contested appointees participated until the matter is fully heard.

The petitioners, through their lawyer Peter Wanyama, told the court that the appointments did not comply with the procedures established under the law for the recruitment and appointment of directors to state corporations.

They thus sought the court's intervention to ensure that appointments to public institutions adhere to constitutional principles of transparency, accountability, and fair competition.

"KETRACO is not a minor parastatal. It is the strategic State enterprise responsible for planning, designing, constructing, operating and maintaining Kenya's national electricity transmission infrastructure," the petitioner argued.

"Allowing a compromised board appointment process to stand without judicial scrutiny means the same actors who made unexplained midnight gazette appointments could also influence who becomes KETRACO's next substantive CEO."

According to Gazette Notice 8032, the Energy CS had reappointed Mercylinnete Rotich and Janerose Gatwiri to the board for a further three-year term, while Wandayi, through a separate Gazette Notice 8033, appointed Nick Ocholla as a new board member for three years.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke