The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) Ezekiel Mutua has defended ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru in the wake of social media attacks, over reappointment of a dead man to a government job.
Through a gazette notice on Thursday, Mucheru announced the re-appointment of Robert Kochalle as a member of KFCB Board of Directors for a period of three years.
Kochalle died on May 29, 2018, and KFCB paid for an obituary in one of the local publications, in addition to placing the announcement on its website.
Mutua accused those attacking the CS of 'blowing a small issue out of proportion' noting the mix-up could have resulted after KFCB was transferred from the Ministry of Sports and Culture to ICT.
"Small issue being blown out of proportion. The Board presented the notification to the Ministry for replacement and inadvertently he was reappointed. It was not CS Mucheru's mistake at all as the conversation started when KFCB was under under Ministry of Sports & Culture," he said.
The CS retained the late Kochalle alongside other board members; Gathoni Kung’u and Nereah Aluoch.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 11A (e) of the Film and Stage Plays Act, the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and Technology, re-appoints Gathoni Kung’u, Robert Kochalle, Nereah Alouch Okanga as members of the Kenya Film Classification Board, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from the 21st October, 2019," read the gazette notice.