Kenya Pipeline sends home seven senior staff

Chairman of Kenya Pipeline Company John Ngumi. PHOTO: FILE

NAIROBI: A senior manager who signed himself up for a Sh14,000 night-out allowance for 365 days, is among the latest casualties of an ongoing purge at the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).

The officer (name withheld) was suspended last week for investigations into circumstances under which he siphoned Sh5 million worth of night-outs when he was reporting to the headquarters daily.

Internal investigators suspect he stole the approval password belonging to his immediate boss and used it to approve the night-outs.

But the officer is better off. Six of his colleagues received dismissal letters early this week and staff were alerted of their sudden exit.

The six are Isaac Ondari (Senior Security Officer), James Kaburu (Chief Technician, Operations), Titus Mwendwa (Product Accountant), Tom Boruett (Principal Technician, Operations), Joseph Nyachama (Senior Internal Auditor) and Alexander Kamawira (Technician II, Operations).

"They ceased to be employees of the company with effect from November 11, 2016. This is forwarded to you for your information and necessary action," a memo dated November 14 and circulated to staff by Safia Jama, the acting Chief Human Resource Officer, said.

Company board chairman John Ngumi has in the past vowed to clean-up the company headquarters, following streams of embarrassing leakage on company operations.

"I just do not understand why I have to spend half my time defending the company on almost everything. Why do people persist on offering inaccurate information about KPC and not any other company, say KenGen or Kenya Power?" Ngumi told The Standard on Saturday in July.

Yesterday, he referred our inquiries to the management. Company Communications Manager Jason Nyantino confirmed that the six were sacked on Friday last week, but refused to discuss reasons for the dismissal. He said the six have since gone to court on the same and it would be unfair to discuss the details.

"They served us yesterday so I cannot discuss their matters at length. What I can tell you is that they were sacked for violating various staff rules and regulations and this happened after they were accorded fair hearings in line with company procedures," Nyantino said.

Sources within KPC Plaza in Lunga Lunga say, however, the sacked men faced a plethora of allegations, ranging from peddling company reports and intelligent briefs, failure to secure the integrity of the pipeline, misusing company facilities to other related improprieties.

At the same time, two other senior engineers have been placed under active investigations. One is suspected of involvement in sale of motor spares and illegal award of mileage and night-out claims amounting to millions of shillings.

The other engineer is accused of mismanaging the Thange oil spill in Kibwezi East, leading to a costly soil restoration and compensation exercise which is costing the firm millions of shillings. He is accused of professional negligence and exposing the company to unnecessary risks.

Thange oil spill claimed the job of former acting MD Flora Okoth. Apart from the spillage occurring during her tenure at the helm, Okoth was accused of underplaying the problem after the management sponsored a traditional cleansing ceremony that embarrassed the company.

Politicians and activists later descended on the matter, accusing the company of hoodwinking locals. They demanded compensation and clean-up of the spillage, which is currently ongoing.

Okoth went alongside former acting Company Secretary Stanley Manduku, who was sacked on different charges of alleged doctoring of board resolutions and minutes.

Yesterday, Nyantino refused to discuss the details of the suspension and investigations on the three staff members. He said suspensions and investigations are normal occurrence in any organisation.

"I would rather restrict myself to the six sackings and say we will respect court decisions," he said.