The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) will have its new managing director (MD) by April 1.
This is after Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen on Monday inaugurated the authority’s board members, who will be mandated to start the recruitment process within a week.
CS Murkomen said the board was to be constituted before interviews of the MD could begin. The application window closed on January 13.
“Today is the final stage for the board members’ recruitment and I expect in a week’s time, the process of shortlisting and scheduling of interviews will begin. This will be followed by a transition process before we officially name the new MD by April 1,” said Mr Murkomen.
The CS warned against outside interference in the recruitment process.
“When I came in, I found a lot of interference in this authority from outside forces and I would like to end that. We want to get the right person to run different ports in the country,” he said.
Transport and Roads Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen (centre) meets the newly constituted Kenya Ports Authority Board at the KPA headquarters in Mombasa on February 13, 2023.
Photo credit: Kevin Odit | Nation Media Group
The new KPA chairman, Benjamin Tayari, is tasked with ensuring the process is concluded. The previous administration failed to recruit the authority’s boss, leading to the position being advertised for the fourth time in a span of three years.
The board members have also been tasked with ensuring improved efficiency at the ports.
In his appointment, the CS picked 26-year-old Caroline Njoki Maina, a Nyeri blogger, as a member of the board. She is the youngest board member KPA has ever had.
Ms Njoki was a key participant during the campaign of President William Ruto before and during the August 9, 2022 General Elections.
Other members of the board are Musa Osman, Emmanuel Kibet, Consolata Lusweti and Lucas Maitha (Pamoja African Alliance chairman, a political party associated with Senate Speaker Amason Kingi).
The new MD will take over from acting MD John Mwangemi.
Mr Mwangemi took over from engineer Rashid Salim who retired after acting as managing director for about two years. Mr Salim was named acting MD following the removal of Dr Daniel Manduku who left the post in 2020.
The new changes in the board and management of KPA signal the start of a major surgery of the key parastatal by the Kenya Kwanza government, which had accused former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration of trying to sell the port operation for a song to foreign entities.
