Lobbies want say in hiring of EAPC boss

East Africa Portland Cement factory. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

Lobby groups in Kajiado want one of their own to succeed outgoing East African Portland Cement (EAPC) boss Kepha Tande.

 Two groups have in the past interrupted operations at cement companies and threatened to block the extraction of limestone in anticipation of swaying the recruitment process.

“If this will not happen then the Maasai will have no other option than to block other cement companies from mining from Kajiado,” a memorandum from Kajiado County Congress and Kajiado County Youth Alliance reads in part.

Legislators from the local community, including Peris Tobiko, have openly associated with the two groups, raising the profile of the ultimatum.

The threats help paint a picture of the operating environment that EAPC, Kenya’s oldest and only loss-making cement maker, is finding itself in.

Company Chairman Bill Lay, who replaced Mark ole Karbolo – who hails from the Maasai community – after a dramatic tussle, has also been accused by the lobbies of taking decisions that were detrimental to the cement maker.

EAPC, the lobbies claim, was paying exorbitant prices for clinker, which is supplied by its single largest shareholder - Lafarge.

Seconded from Lafarge

It is unclear if the claims on expensive clinker levelled against Mr Lay have had material impact on the profitability of the struggling cement maker.

Several incidents of wrangling among the board members, ageing factory and staff unrest are thought to be among the factors that have cost the cement maker heavily and pushed it to losses.

Two weeks ago, the cement maker announced the start of a recruitment process to fill the top two positions in management.

Mr Tande, the current managing director, will leave the firm in November at the expiry of his two three-year terms.

Former chief operations officer Albert Sigei resigned in May after only nine months, with the possibility that his replacement could arrive before the Mr Tande’s.

Mr Sigei, who was seconded from EAPC’s major shareholder, Lafarge, left the troubled firm following heavy lobbying by the community-based lobbies.

The accusations raised the lobbies include a petition by the State on the role of Lafarge in the operations of Portland, where it has a 41.7 per cent stake.

National Social Security Fund owns a 27 per cent stake, while the Government of Kenya controls 25 per cent shares in the cement maker.

The State has unsuccessfully tried to oust Mr Tande from the firm, besides failing in another push to have the board of directors reconstituted.

EAPC has already issued a profit warning for the current financial year, which ends on June 30, after reporting a Sh745 million in pretax loss in the six months to December.?