Ex-Energy PS loses Kenya Pipeline share certificate

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Company secretary Flora Okoth said on Friday that share certificates held by former PSs Patrick Nyoike and Chrispus Mutitu could not be traced and had therefore been cancelled following proof of misplacement.

The Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) will next month issue new share certificates to Energy and Petroleum PS Joseph Njoroge after those held by two of his predecessors were certified as lost. Company secretary Flora Okoth said on Friday that share certificates held by former PSs Patrick Nyoike and Chrispus Mutitu could not be traced and had, therefore, been cancelled following proof of misplacement.

“Upon sufficient evidence that they are lost or misplaced, notice is given that after the expiry of 30 days from the date hereof, new share certificates shall be issued by the company to Joseph K. Njoroge, the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Petroleum,” she said in a notice published in the Kenya Gazette.

A share certificate is a written document signed on behalf of a corporation, and serves as legal proof of ownership of the number of shares indicated.

Auditor-General Edward Ouko in his audit report for 2012/13 raised concern over anomaly of the share certificate held by the ministry as one of the government nominees in the KPC board of directors. “The share certificate in respect of one share with a book value of Sh20 which the ministry holds in KPC is held in the name of a former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Petroleum instead of the current office holder,” said the report.

KPC is 100 per cent owned by the government and complies with the provisions of the State Corporations Act (Cap 446) of 1986. Besides KPC, the Auditor-General also raised concern over the legal status of the Energy and Petroleum ministry’s shareholding in Kenya Electricity Generation Company (KenGen) and the Geothermal Development Company.

“As reported in the previous year, the ministry continues to hold more than one share each in KenGen and GDC,” Mr Ouko observed. “This is contrary to the provisions of the PS to the Treasury (Incorporation) Act, Cap 101 as amended under Section 2 of the First Schedule to the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 which requires all government investments to be vested in the PS, Treasury as a body corporate.”