The Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) has been taken to court over its ongoing recruitment of senior lecturers and administrators, with a petitioner claiming the process is closed, unfair and against the college's own human resource rules.

Advocate Charles Mugane, through Mugane Law LLP, has filed a constitutional petition at the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi challenging two KMTC advertisements dated October 5 and October 21, 2026. He has sued KMTC, the Public Service Commission and the Attorney General, with the Secretary to the State Corporations Advisory Committee listed as an interested party.

Posts under challenge

The October 21 internal advertisement invited applications for:

  • Two Chief Principal Lecturer positions.
  • Five Senior Principal Lecturer I positions.
  • Ten Senior Principal Lecturer II positions.

The October 5 external advertisement sought one Senior Assistant Director of ICT and two Assistant Directors of Human Resource Management.

The petitioner's case

Mugane argues that KMTC's Human Capital Management Policies and Procedures Manual requires teaching positions to be advertised externally to allow an open, competitive and merit-based process. Restricting them to internal candidates, he says, locks out qualified people outside the college.

He also faults the decision to offer the Chief Principal Lecturer posts on permanent and pensionable terms, saying applicable guidelines require them to be filled on contract.

For the ICT and human resource posts, he says KMTC added a master's degree requirement that is not prescribed for those job grades under Public Service Commission guidelines, and that the change was made without consulting employees and trade unions. He claims the new requirements could favour particular candidates.

"The imminent consequence of not stopping the said recruitment process is that many deserving candidates shall be denied the opportunity to participate," the court papers state, warning that the college could end up with appointees picked through a process that is not open or fair.

Orders sought

Mugane wants the court to declare the recruitment unconstitutional, quash both advertisements and direct KMTC to run a fresh exercise in line with the Constitution and public service laws. He has also asked for urgent interim orders suspending the process until the case is decided.

The timing is tight. Applications for the two non-teaching posts closed on Friday, October 30, while the deadline for the teaching posts is November 13, 2026. Reports did not indicate whether the court has issued any interim orders, and KMTC had not publicly responded to the claims.

KMTC is the country's largest trainer of mid-level health workers. The case adds to a string of court battles over top appointments in public education institutions, including the Teachers Service Commission's search for a new chief executive.

Photos: Kahawatungu; The Eastleigh Voice. Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.