Poghisio picks new CCK, Posta heads

Information and Communications minister Samuel Poghisio has appointed Francis Wangusi as the new Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK’s) director-general, ending months of jostling for the position.

Mr Poghisio also appointed Enock Kinara as the postmaster general, replacing Hussein Ali who left the position at the end of May, but has been on leave pending retirement.

“The ministry today forwarded the names of Francis Wangusi as the new CCK director-general and Dr Enock Kinara as the postmaster general,” said a source familiar with the matter.

Mr Poghisio is understood to have written to the Attorney-General’s Office for the two appointments to be published in the Kenya Gazette, the official record of government activities.

The two positions fell vacant after the respective boards failed to renew the contracts of Charles Njoroge, the former director-general of CCK and Maj-Gen (Rtd) Ali, saying their performances fell below the set targets.

Mr Wangusi had been short-listed for the position together with John Omo, CCK’s legal head, and Stephen Kiptinness, a former CCK legal officer and Telkom Kenya legal head.

The three were drawn from six names selected by Manpower Services, a professional recruitment agency retained for the purpose.

His appointment comes at a time when there is a stalemate between the industry and the government on the one hand and the regulator on the other over the reduction of mobile termination rates.

Mr Wangusi, who holds a Master’s degree in Space Science (Satellite Communications) from the International Space University, France, has been acting since August last year.

He will replace Mr Njoroge whose appointment by Mr Poghisio in May was declared irregular by the High Court.

Mr Poghisio had extended Mr Njoroge’s contract, despite the board’s recommendation that he was not suitable for another term after scoring 60 per cent in his appraisal against a 70 per cent cut-off mark.

Dr  Kinara, the general manager for financial services, has been the acting postmaster general since May. 

Dr Kinara, holds a doctorate degree in business administration from Washington International University. He has worked at Postal Corporation since 1985 when he was hired as a management trainee at the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunication Corporation.

Extend

Mr Ali’s term expires end of this month. The parastatal’s board in March concluded that he had failed to meet the threshold of 70 per cent needed to retain him at the helm of PCK.

He scored 52 per cent and the board asked Mr Poghisio to retire him and start the process of hiring a new CEO.

Mr Ali had in mid-March asked the board to extend his contract for another three years.

Dr Kinara’s appointment comes at a time the use of technology such as e-mail, mobile money transfer and courier services has continued to erode the company’s core mail delivery service.

A US consulting firm, IBM, last year recommended restructuring the postal corporation to bring on board a “younger, energetic talent” to drive the agency in a competitive market.

It said PCK should also tap into new business opportunities such as offering government and banking agency services to boost its earnings.