KPA MD recruitment uncertainty and claims of sabotage hurting Mombasa port

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) acting Managing Director Daniel Manduku’s term ends next month, yet the KPA board has not initiated a process to fill the post that fell vacant on May 30.

This has triggered speculation of sabotage and lobbying by departmental heads eyeing the coveted seat.

The dispute over who should recruit the new MD has further complicated matters. Board chairman Joseph Kibwana wants the recruitment done by a private human resource firm while some members citing the KPA Act say the hiring should be left to the board.

But there are reports of vested commercial and political interests behind the delay with some forces saying Dr Manduku should be confirmed while others support his replacement with a top official at the port.

The acting MD has said in the past that he is ready to be subjected to competitive recruitment having led a top parastatal before and his backers believe he will easily sail through because of the reforms he has initiated at the port like the seamless linkage of the port and the Standard Gauge Railway freight service.

But there is a group claiming that extending Manduku’s term will create unnecessary crisis and accord him undue advantage.

Manduku was appointed on May 30 to serve as acting MD for two months following the controversial ouster of Catherine Mturi-Wairi after the port was hit by congestion.

His term was extended for another four months from August 1 to November 30.

Artificial congestion

In the last two years, KPA board has effected changes in top management to tame rivalry which results in artificial congestion at the port, a situation designed to sabotage the MD.

In February 2016, long serving MD Gichiri Ndua, General Manager- Operations Captain Twalib Khamisi and Head of Legal Services and Company Secretary Muthoni Gatere, Justus Nyarandi (General Manager-Cooperative Services) and Major Mohamed Morowa (head of security services) were retired.

In March this year, another purge was carried out that saw Eng Abdullahi Samatar General Manager - Infrastructure Development deployed to Kisumu Port. Long serving Eng Joseph Atonga, General Manager -Engineering Services, was retired while Sudi Mwasimango General Manager Operations and Harbour Master was deployed to Kisumu.

Critics of the changes say they were engineered by vested interests in and outside KPA who want to take control of the port but others say it was necessary to end rivalry.

Rivalry between top managers of state agencies like KPA, Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Railways, Kenya Bureau of Standard, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services operating at the port has in the past been blamed for the slow off take of cargo.

Analysts say the protracted recruitment was hindering plans to institute radical changes and support logistic services to steer the port to another level.

This week a section of the Mijikenda elders and professionals demanded that KPA board should end the uncertainty and recruit an MD.

Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi said recruitment should be based on merit but added that KPA should increase Corporate Social Responsibility CSR programmes to support education in the constituency, which hosts the port.

The port’s workers union, Dock Workers Union (DWU) said in future KPA needs to make bold decisions to transform the business model or lose out to competitors.

In a letter to Ministry of Transport DWU Secretary Simon Sang said KPA should prioritise the construction of a mega container storage facility for importers to store containers at a fee.

“It is clear that Manduku cannot do a lot given that he is in the acting capacity. KPA is now offering piecemeal solutions to a complex problem of congestion at the Internal Container Depot (ICD),” said Sang.

[email protected]