End of an era as the Njoroges exit top energy firms

KenGen’s Eddy Njoroge and Kenya Power’s Joseph Njoroge’s exit opens the race for two of the most coveted parastatal jobs. FILE/BD Graphics  Nation Media Group

By Victor Juma
 

 

In Summary

• Joseph Njoroge of Kenya Power was sworn in as the Energy principal secretary Thursday while KenGen’s Eddy Njoroge is retiring to build his boardroom career and pursue further studies.
• The Njoroges are leaving the State-owned corporations midway through their latest contracts and have been replaced by insiders in acting capacities.

Kenya’s energy sector is bidding farewell to two of its most influential executives who have determined the industry’s fortunes in the past 10 years. 

Joseph Njoroge of Kenya Power was sworn in as the Energy principal secretary Thursday while KenGen’s Eddy Njoroge is retiring to build his boardroom career and pursue further studies.

READ: Cash-rich energy parastatals seek new CEOs

The Njoroges are leaving the State-owned corporations midway through their latest contracts and have been replaced by insiders in acting capacities.

Kenya Power, the monopoly electricity distributor, has appointed its chief manager Ben Chumo the acting chief executive while KenGen, which produces 70 per cent of all electricity consumed in the country, has appointed its director of regulatory affairs Simon Ngure to hold brief as the board searches for a new chief executive.

READ: KenGen appoints acting MD as Eddy Njoroge exits

The Njoroges have enjoyed close links with the current and previous administrations and are expected to remain influential players in the corridors of power in the Uhuru Kenyatta government.

Political interest is expected to determine who replaces the blue-eyed boys in the two offices considered among the most plum in the public sector.

Managing KenGen or Kenya Power gives one control of multi-billion-shilling contracts and two of the country’s largest corporations that generated combined sales of Sh62.4 billion with net profits of Sh7.4 billion last year.

Energy Secretary Davis Chirchir has revived the recruitment of KenGen’s CEO that was stopped in April awaiting the appointment of a new minister on May 15.

As the Energy Principal Secretary, Joseph Njoroge will play a significant role in the appointment of his successor at Kenya Power where he leaves behind a chequered legacy of success, challenges and controversy.

Eddy Njoroge will be remembered for shepherding KenGen to the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 2006 in an initial public offer that attracted thousands of retail investors to the stock market for the first time in Kenya’s history.

The IPO rewarded the novice investors with huge capital gains, whetting the appetite of more first timers to come on board popularising the securities market and paving the way for more offerings, including Kenya’s biggest listing — Safaricom.

KenGen’s share price more than tripled upon its debut in the market, nearly doubling the Sh11.90 offer price, and earning the initial buyers of the government’s 30 per cent stake millions of shillings.

Eddy Njoroge’s other achievements at KenGen include the commissioning of major geothermal power plants whose completion is expected to boost the quantity and reliability of  power supply in Kenya.