Kenya Power delays recruitment of managers

Kenya Power will continue operating without a substantive management as its board delays recruitment of managers to replace the team fired last July.

The purge saw about 20 managers, including the entire C-Suite, being arrested on claims they purchased defective transformers and irregularly hired over 500 firms for emergency repair of power infrastructure.

The board appointed an interim team that was to be in place for three months and whose mandate expired in October but was extended. 

Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter had in November directed the board to take necessary steps to ensure the power distributor gets a substantive management team.

Yesterday, shareholders of the company urged the board to either confirm the team or recruit afresh to secure the future of Kenya Power, which had one of its worst years in 2018.

Energy Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge said the process of hiring afresh is already underway, but was non-committal on when it would be concluded.

“The confirmation of the CEO and the general managers is under consideration. We would seek your indulgence and ask for your patience because it is a process that must be done following certain procedures,” he said at the company’s annual general meeting in Nairobi.

“It has to be done in an open and competitive manner… the ministry has already told the Kenya Power board to commence the recruitment process.”

The acting CEO and his team of 12 acting general managers were a level below the team that was indicted. This meant that they too had to appoint temporary replacements at the second tier.