The board of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) on Friday evening sent director-general Francis Wangusi on compulsory leave pending investigations into what the board says is malpractice in staff training and promotions. The board met last evening under its chairman, Ngene Kariuki, and cited human resource concerns at the CA.
The regulator, however, is yet to issue a statement on the matter. Mr Wangusi, who was re-appointed director-general for a term of four years in 2015, has been tasked with putting out several industry fires over the years – among them the question of Safaricom’s dominance and the CA’s award of a 4G License to Jamii Telecommunications Limited (JTL).
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Airtel, Kenya’s second-biggest telco after Safaricom, has in the past hit out at the industry regulator, saying its failure to act on the dominance debate was hurting the smaller operators. On the matter of Jamii Telecom’s 4G License, industry players including Safaricom questioned the criteria used in the issuance, saying the move went back on earlier promises by CA to publicly auction the spectrum.
Mr Wangusi also led the CA’s spirited fight over the seemingly forced migration of television broadcast houses to digital platforms, a move that saw a counter reaction from unified media houses who took the regulator to court in 2014. Mr Wangusi has been at the helm of the Information and Communications Technology regulator since 2012.
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