Nairobi Water Company to name chief executive

The Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company is on Thursday afternoon set to name its new managing director.

Sources close to the selection process said that of the three shortlisted candidates, Philip Gichuki, who has been the MD in an acting capacity for the past 19 months, is likely to be confirmed.

“Deloitte East Africa forwarded their names to us and after interviewing them, Mr Gichuki emerged the best,” said the source, who requested to remain anonymous since the formal announcement has not been made.

The other shortlisted candidates are David Onyango and Patrick Omuntia, a former finance director at the company.

The audit firm had initially shortlisted six candidates in November and this was later reduced to three.

However, Peter Kuguru, the board’s chairman, said yesterday it was too early for him to comment on the issue and that the final decision would be made after a committee meeting this morning.

“All I can confirm is that the interviews were indeed conducted today (Wednesday) and that the successful candidate will be announced tomorrow (today),” he said.

Last month, Mr Kuguru was the victim of an unprecedented coup at the company after he dismissed Mr Gichuki and replaced him with Mr Omuntia.

This appointment did not go down well with rest of his board members and about 2,000 workers who went ahead to stage a day-long strike to protest the move, threatening to paralyse water supply in the city if the decision was not reversed.

The workers, led by union secretary Festus Ngari, claimed that the selection process had not been conducted openly and competitively.

To appease the workers, the water distributor’s board speedily reversed the appointment and suspended Mr Kuguru from his position, accusing him of making the decision without following procedure or consulting the other board members. At the time, Mr Kuguru, who is also the managing director of Softa Bottling Company, defended his action, saying that the vacancy had been advertised in September and three shortlisted candidates already interviewed.

Further, he claimed that Mr Gichuki’s name was not among the final three candidates and that it is on this basis that he relieved him of his duties, sending him back to the Ministry of Water for redeployment.

However, Mr Kuguru got some reprieve after the courts this week reinstated him as chairman of the company, with full pay and perks, on condition that he agrees to be subjected to investigation on integrity.

NWSC, whose revenues account for half of total water company revenues in the country, has over the years been perpetually dragged back by revenue shortfalls.

This and rampant cases of illegal connection that has resulted in a disparity in their billing estimate and actual collections where they expect to collect Sh450 million per month but actual collections average of Sh350 million.