The Ministry of Tourism has announced that they have revoked the board appointment of Pauline Njoroge to the Tourism Regulatory Authority.
“I am revoking Pauline Njoroge’s appointment as a board member of Tourism Regulatory Authority because we have just seen what she had tweeted in the past that Nairobi National Park was useless. We do not want to be associated with such people and such thinking.” the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife, Najib Balala was quoted as saying.
Pauline Njoroge was appointed to the board as of 7th August 2020 through a Gazette Notice No 5462 for a period of 3 years. She even posted the appointment to the board on her Facebook which has since been deleted.
Right after her appointment, Kenyans on Twitter started sharing a post she made on Facebook about the National Park. That is the type of content that bewildered people since it conflicted with her appointment to the board and it seems the Ministry took the resurfacing of these posts seriously. Some people shared what she shared that led to her immediate dismissal.
The Most Commendable Pauline Njoroge HSC (Head of State of Commendation) has been appointed to oversee her vision for tourism and wildlife: subdivide all National Parks to small plots and sell them. This is in tandem with NEPAD’s goals. This, Kenyans, is the Kenya we want. ^DoS pic.twitter.com/mEw6l1JKSU
— Nelson Havi (@NelsonHavi) August 8, 2020
“The integrity of Nairobi National Park is very important and the government is committed to save Nairobi National Park and any other protected area which is the habitat for our national heritage; wildlife,” the ministry said.
“We regret we did not know what she had said in the past. We want to take this opportunity to thank Kenyans on social media for highlighting what we had missed during our background check on her,” the Ministry said today in a notice.
This is arguably the first time we have seen someone’s board appointment to a government institution. Social media background checks are the routine now to ascertain whether someone is worthy of a certain position. Pauline Njoroge’s case seems like will set precedent in Kenya for the next gazetted appointments.
