Former CA boss Francis Wangusi passes on at Nairobi Hospital

The immediate former Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Director General Francis Wangusi has died at Nairobi Hospital. We say the “immediate former DG” because before the appointment of current DG Ezra Chiloba as the substantive boss, Mercy Wanjau, then the authority’s Director of Legal services (and currently the Secretary to the Cabinet), had held the position in an acting capacity for over 2 years.

The late Wangusi passed on at the hospital on Wednesday March 1, 2023 after being admitted at the facility for a while. In mid January, Wangusi’s family, through their church (Friends Church Quakers), sent out a blood appeal due to low blood levels and side effects from chemotherapy.

(TOP: The late CA director Francis Wangusi during a previous board meeting).

The late Wangusi, who began his career as an Engineer with the then Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC), served as the CA boss since late 2011, replacing the previous DG Charles Njoroge.

However, his long tenure at the ICT industry regulator was not without its hurdles and controversies, beginning from the time he took over from Njoroge following a court decision. Even though his contract was was extended for a second 4-year term in 2015, the board suspended him in early 2018 for 3 months in order to allow it conduct what it called “an audit independent of the human resource function” at the authority. In Wangusi’s absence, Christopher Kemei, the CA’s Director for Licensing, Compliance and Standards, was named the acting DG. Following the suspension, he moved to the High Court after which the court lifted the suspension later that month.

Wangusi then served his second contract till the term officially came to an end on August 21, 2019. After the contract ran out, the then CA board chair Ngene Gituku announced that CA’s Director of Legal Services, Mercy Wanjau, to take over the DG’s position in an acting capacity. Ms Wanjau served in the role till early October 2021 when Ezra Chiloba, the former IEBC CEO, was picked to take over the position as the substantive DG.

Below is the message from the CA announcing the late Wangusi’s demise. May his soul rest in peace.