President Uhuru Kenyatta’s appointment of board members of State
corporations is a major departure from the radical reforms the
government has been touting.
In a special issue of the Kenya Gazette of April 27, the Jubilee administration appointed 302 individuals to the boards of State corporations.
In his State of the Nation address to Parliament on March 26, a day after the code of governance of State Corporations dubbed Mwongozo was launched, President Kenyatta pledged to ensure new parastatal appointments were done according to the recommendations.
In a special issue of the Kenya Gazette of April 27, the Jubilee administration appointed 302 individuals to the boards of State corporations.
In his State of the Nation address to Parliament on March 26, a day after the code of governance of State Corporations dubbed Mwongozo was launched, President Kenyatta pledged to ensure new parastatal appointments were done according to the recommendations.
“I directed that all
vacant positions in the boards be filled. I will personally oversee all
appointed and currently serving board members formally sign onto the
code. This will address governance and management challenges in our
parastatals,” he said.
The framework was developed in
the course of more than a year by the Presidential Task Force on
Parastatal Reforms co-chaired by President Kenyatta’s senior advisor on
Constitution and Legislative Affairs, Mr Abdikadir Mohamed, and
Commercial Bank of Africa CEO Isaac Awuondo.
But the
appointments, which have attracted mixed reactions from the public and
the opposition Cord, deviate from the proposed reforms. A key
recommendation of the Mwongozo code was to end the practice of recycling
political failures.
Among the recent 302 appointees,
the majority are politicians who lost in the 2013 General Election,
including Mr Musikari Kombo, who twice lost the Bungoma senatorial seat
to Senate Minority Leader Moses Wetang’ula, former MPs Raphael Wanjala
(Budalang’i), Marsden Madoka (Mwatate), Dr Robert Monda (Nyaribari
Chache), Musa Sirma (Eldama Ravine), Walter Nyambati (Kitutu Masaba),
Henry Obwocha (West Mugirango), Omingo Magara (South Mugirango) and
Soita Shitanda (Malava).
President Kenyatta also
appointed one-time nominated MP Richard Leakey to chair the Kenya
Wildlife Service board, as well as former Eldoret Mayor Josiah Magut.
Former President Mwai Kibaki’s aide de camp, Mr Geoffrey King’ang’i, who resigned to vie for the Mbeere South parliamentary seat, has been appointed chairman of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
Former President Mwai Kibaki’s aide de camp, Mr Geoffrey King’ang’i, who resigned to vie for the Mbeere South parliamentary seat, has been appointed chairman of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
Other
politicians appointed to the boards are Abdul Bahari, Suleiman
Kamolleh, Julius Sunkuli, Taib A. Taib, John Koech, Eric Nyamunga,
Samuel Poghisio, Mwangi Kiunjuri, Andrew Sunkuli, Hilary Alila, Kalembe
Ndile and Wavinya Ndeti.
There is a feeling the
appointments made on Monday were done with the 2017 General Election in
mind. “It is clear that President Kenyatta has engaged the reverse gear
in terms of what has been achieved on parastatal reforms. We are back
to appointments based on political patronage and loyalty,” Nation
columnist Jaindi Kisero wrote on Thursday.
NEGATIVE POLITICS
But
according to State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu, the appointment of
former politicians should be applauded by all since the appointees will
not engage in negative and destructive politics.
“In the past, losers in political contests would be in the ‘cold’ until the next elections and they would spend their time undermining the incumbent.
“In the past, losers in political contests would be in the ‘cold’ until the next elections and they would spend their time undermining the incumbent.
Our
Jubilee parties’ nomination rules seek to circumvent this by ensuring
that losers in the nomination process, having achieved a threshold of
votes, would be incorporated at various levels of appointive positions,
in keeping with their qualifications, so that no leader, able and
willing to serve the people, is excluded,” Mr Esipisu told Sunday
Nation.
According to the task force, the Mwongozo
proposals were supposed to be taken to Parliament for approval after
which the government was to establish a new outfit, the Government
Investment Corporation (GIC) in the Office of the President. The GIC
would have powers to hire and fire State corporation chiefs.
In
other words, Cabinet secretaries were to be left out in appointing the
board members. That has not happened, and the majority of recent board
appointments were made by Cabinet secretaries.
The task force had also recommended merging some corporations or transferring some functions to counties, ultimately trimming the number of parastatals from 262 to 187. Had that happened, the government had projected it would save Sh3.5 billion annually.
The task force had also recommended merging some corporations or transferring some functions to counties, ultimately trimming the number of parastatals from 262 to 187. Had that happened, the government had projected it would save Sh3.5 billion annually.
The GIC chairman the
President was to appoint would be a Kenyan with at least a master’s
degree, five years serving as a board member and no less than 10 years
in senior management. GIC board members had to have at least a first
degree and service in senior management position for at least six years,
in addition to being a member of the Institute of Directors.
Parastatal board members that GIC was subsequently to appoint were to have no less than a bachelor’s degree and belong to a professional body.
Parastatal board members that GIC was subsequently to appoint were to have no less than a bachelor’s degree and belong to a professional body.
On
that provision, questions could arise whether musician Charles Njagua
Kanyi, popularly known as Jaguar, who was appointed to the board of the
National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada), would have qualified.
Similarly,
Mr Ndile was appointed a member of the Water Services Regulatory Board
without adequate qualifications, while there is a possible conflict of
interest regarding the appointment of Ms Nancy Karigithu to the board of
the Kenya Maritime Authority.
As recent as February this year, she was the director general of the authority.
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