Nairobi — Minister Raphael Tuju on Tuesday dissolved the Communications Commission of Kenya board and sent its director on leave. He did not have the courtesy to explain.

But the decision by the Information and Communications minister came a few days after a court ruled that the Government was liable for the Econet wireless fiasco. Therefore, one view has it that Mr Tuju's action may be linked to it.

But who did right and who did wrong is not the point here. Rather, it is that, unlike the civil service, Kenyans who work in regulatory and executive agencies seem to have little protection against political whims.

This is an anomaly. Executive agencies all over the world are given some level of autonomy from the Government partly to protect them from the arbitrary political actions.

In practice, it seems that, in Kenya, the opposite is the case. In exercising their oversight functions over the various commissions and authorities, the ministers enjoy too much power to do as they please.

The effect is not always undesirable. Abuses have occurred and, often, those sacked have often been incompetent or corrupt.

But, in many cases, sackings have been unfair to the individual victims, affecting, moreover, some of the most qualified and most effective cadres.

Even if they are reinstated, their reputations will have been damaged. If not, their replacements have frequently raised eyebrows, to say the very least.

For these reasons, we believe that a more public and transparent review mechanism should be worked out - probably an independent agency - to govern dismissals and appointments and ensure an interview process that is always aboveboard.

It is also hypocritical for political leaders to seek to exclude themselves from the same standards of behaviour they claim to demand from other public servants.

When ministers are accused of corruption, or when their actions lead to losses of public funds or national embarrassment, they refuse to resign or apologise.

They cannot claim justice for themselves and, at the same time, deny it to other Kenyans. Mr Tuju must explain to Kenyans why he sacked the team.