CA to scrap permanent posts for top managers

Politics and policy

Communications Authority of Kenya chairman Ben Gituku (left) and director- general Francis Wangusi. PHOTO | FILE 

By OKUTTAH MARK, mokuttah@ke.nationmeda.com

In Summary

• The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) plans to cut the number of executives reporting to the director- general from nine to three who will have 21 managers working under them.
• The authority will in the next two weeks start fresh hiring for the positions and the new executives will be offered four-year contracts whose renewal will be tied to performance.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) will stop offering senior managers permanent and pensionable jobs as it prepares for a management shake-up.

The communications regulator plans to cut the number of executives reporting to the director- general from nine to three who will have 21 managers working under them.

The authority will in the next two weeks start fresh hiring for the positions and the new executives will be offered four-year contracts whose renewal will be tied to performance, said CA chairman Ben Gituku.

“The terms will be renewable as long as the managers are performing. This is necessary so as to increase efficiency and make people accountable to their work and the time frame in which tasks are executed,” said Mr Gituku.

In the new management structure, the board has created another layer comprising three general managers, technical service, corporate affairs and support services who will be reporting directly to the director-general.

The board has also scrapped the title of directors and the new office bearers of the same position will now be referred to as chief managers and will report to the three new general managers instead of the director-general as was the case previously.

The CA had asked the managers to apply afresh for the positions in a hiring that has been opened to outsiders.

This prompted 30 senior CA managers to block the fresh recruitment in court, which gave the regulator the green light to continue the hiring and asked the executives to sue the authority as individuals and not through the union.

READ: 30 top managers sue communications regulator over jobs

Only four executives returned to court, clearing the way for CA to start the job search. The positions for which interviews begin in the next two weeks include, consumer and public affairs, finance and accounting, audit and that of the legal affairs. 

These are part of the nine senior managers’ positions that were declared vacant on December 16, including also another 21 positions for their assistants and which CA wants filled competitively and will include hiring applicants from outside the authority.

Francis Wangusi, the CA director- general, told the Business Daily that the current structure where nine directors report to him had created inefficiency and made it difficult for him to make the officers accountable.

“There will be a very good package for those senior managers who will be affected by the restructuring process or those who opt out of the authority,” said Mr Wangusi.

“Senior managers who have worked with the regulator since the time of KPTC (Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation) are expected to take home up to Sh45 million while the shortest serving ones will take home about Sh17 million.”

KPTC was split in 1998 to form the current Safaricom, Telkom Kenya, CA and Postal Corporation.