Ms Marianne Ndegwa. PHOTO | FILE
By KIARIE NJOROGE, gkiarie@ke.nationmedia.com
State House has been drawn into boardroom fights at
the Tourism Finance Corporation (TFC) that has seen five top managers
removed over the past three months.
In one of the most far-reaching changes in a State
corporation, the entire executive suite of the hotels lending agency has
been booted out of office in a battle that is centred on the sale of
multi-million shilling assets.
The battle took a new turn last week after a TFC
executive fired a letter to the head of Public Service, Joseph Kinyua,
complaining of harassment and forced resignation of executives.
“All senior management staff of the corporation
have now been interdicted and/or forced to resign on very flimsy
grounds,” said the executive.
“I hereby write to seek the intervention of your
good office to stop senior management of the corporation from being
harassed and forced into resignation by the acting managing director.”
Tourism secretary Najib Balala appointed Jonah
Orumoi as acting chief executive of TFC on February 26, three months
before Marianne Ndegwa’s term came to an end — effectively leaving the
agency with two heads. Mr Orumoi replaced Ms Ndegwa, who was sent on
forced leave pending her retirement this month.
The list of TFC executives who have so far
been removed from office includes head of credit Abraham Muthogo,
Dominic Ndegwa (investments) and human resources chief, Carolyne Misoi,
who was suspended last week for issuing Ms Ndegwa an introduction letter
for her private trip outside the country.
The agency’s head of legal, Carey Francis, and IT
chief Shadrack Mwaniki have also left, rendering the corporation without
substantive executives.
The acting managing director has also issued Ms
Ndegwa with a letter threatening to sack her for allegedly employing an
officer without the directors’ approval.
The letter ordinarily should have come from
the board and not the acting managing director given Ms Ndegwa
technically remains the most senior executive at the TFC. Ms Ndegwa
declined to comment.
The boardroom clash pitting the executives against
the directors started in March after Mr Orumoi’s appointment and when
the anti-graft agency sought from the TFC details of the sale of a Sh700
million property in Mombasa.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC)
was investigating complaints that the property was being sold without
board approval.
The complaint had been filed by Coast Car Park
& Amusement Centre, a firm that had leased the property and was
opposed to its eviction following the sale.
“The EACC wanted details of board approvals but
this was used as an excuse to frustrate the directors on the pretext
that we were under investigations,” says one of the affected executives,
adding that control of the prime Mombasa plot was at the heart of the
spat.
Coast Car Park & Amusement Centre on April 28
lost the court battle opposing the sale of the property before Mombasa
High Court judge Anyara Emukule
Court documents show approval for the property sale was granted on January 2012, just months before the board was disbanded.
But the sale notice was delayed to February 2015 following late approvals from the Office of the President.
The corporation remained without a board between September 2012 and last October.
The clash between the executives and the directors coincided with the appointment of new board members by Mr Balala.
Mr Balala appointed Said Mwangi on December 24 last
year through a gazette notice. Mr Balala’s political adviser, Said
Athumani, has been attending board meetings since January yet he is not a
gazetted director of the TFC.
Mr Athumani has taken the place of Ann Karimi
Kinyua, the officially appointed alternate director to the Tourism
principal secretary.
The two are said to call the shots on a board that
has lacked a chairman since 2012. President Uhuru Kenyatta is the one to
appoint the board chairperson. Other directors are Pauline Rwamba,
Franklin Ndii, Paul Kurgat and media owner Hanningtone Gaya.
The suspended executives reckon the Mombasa court verdict has vindicated their actions on the sale of the property.
The EACC annual reports and Kenya Gazette notices
that list cases under investigation do not contain the TFC matter,
putting the TFC board on a tight spot as it prepares to grill the
suspended executives.
“We were not investigating managers (individuals)
but rather the process of disposal of the said land to determine if it
was done in a procedural manner as per the Rules & Regulation
stipulated in PPOA (Public Procurement Oversight Authority),” said the
EACC in a statement yesterday.
“No such recommendation has been made since investigations are ongoing.”
The corporation yesterday maintained that the
executives were in breach of procurement rules, failed to get full board
approval for the sale of the Mombasa plot and that the EACC is was
investigating the executives over the sale of corporation assets.
“The EACC does not carry out enquiries. It
investigates and the executives had to step aside because they are under
investigations,” said a manager at the TFC who sought anonymity because
the dispute is being handled by the board.
“How did they procure the sale yet the fund did not have a functioning audit and procurement department?”
He acknowledged board and ministerial approvals
were sought for the sale of the Mombasa plot, but said that final
go-ahead was not granted by the new directors
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