Uhuru dissolves Kenya Ferry Services board after car tragedy

Kenya Ferry Services Chairman Dan Mwazo (in white), KFS Managing Director Bakari Gowa (left) and the Kenya Navy Ferry Tragedy Recovery Operation Commander Col. Lawrence Gituma (right) address the media at the Mbaraki Wharf in Mombasa County on October 6, 2019. Mwazo's appointment as Chairman of KFS has been revoked. [Maarufu Mohamed, Standard]

President Uhuru Kenyatta has revoked the appointment of Kenya Ferry Services board chairperson Dan Mwazo and four other members.

In a Gazette notice dated October 16, 2019, Uhuru announces the termination of appointments of the board chairman and his team.

It reads in part: “In exercise of powers conferred by section 7 (3) of the State Corporations Act, I Uhuru Kenyatta, President and the Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya revokes the appointments of Dan Mwazo, Daula Omar, Naima Amir, Phillip Ndolo, and Nasigha Mruttu as Non-Executive Chairperson and Members of Kenya Services Limited, with immediate effect from 16^th October 2019.”

President Uhuru’s axe comes in the wake of KFS being in the spotlight following the Likoni ferry tragedy in which a mother and daughter mysteriously sunk in the Indian Ocean after their car slid off the ferry.

Confidential sources at the KFS confided in the Standard Digital that the top management is tensed not knowing their fate.

Among those who could be affected should the changes run deeper include the Managing Director, Operations Manager, Coxswains, Head of security among others

The KFS Chairman Dan Mwazo is only two months old at the helm.

Five people have since been grilled by police after the tragic incident.

They include the coxswain of the ill-fated MV Harambee Amos Bushuru, two private security guards, and two other top officials at KFS whom police did not reveal.

Yesterday, during the postmortem of the two bodies, Likoni police boss Charles Onyango said the MD Bakari Gowa was yet to be grilled.

Mariam Kighenda, 35, and her daughter Amanda Mutheu, 4, sunk on the Likoni Channel on September 29, 2019. Their bodies were retrieved 13 days later and were moved to Jocham Hospital Mortuary in Mombasa.

Their burial date is yet to be announced.