Export agency hunts for head after ex-KPCU boss departure

The Export Promotion Council (EPC) has begun the hunt for a new CEO weeks after Ruth Wangare Mwaniki announced she will exit the State agency to seek political office.

For years, Ms Mwaniki headed the now collapsed Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU).

First appointed in 2011, she served EPC for two three-year terms and is seeking the Kigumo parliamentary seat in Murang’a County currently held by Jamleck Kamau.

“When I finally make the decision I will resign from being a civil servant and will officially come to Kigumo to ask for your votes,” she was quoted telling county residents late December when she announced plans to pursue politics.

Ironically, the parastatal is under a reform programme supposed to be merged with Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), Kenya Tourist Board, Brand Kenya Board (BKB) and Kenya Yearbook Editorial.

But on Friday the agency said in a notice it was looking for another occupant of the corner office, who must have at least 10 years relevant experience of which five must be in a senior management position preferably in international trade.

“The ideal candidate will be a Kenyan citizen with a minimum possession of a Master’s degree in business administration, finance, accounting, marketing, economics, law, strategic management or any other related field from a recognised university,” said the agency.

“Appointment to this position will be on a three-year contract and renewable once subject to satisfactory performance.”

Dozens of parastatals will be scrapped or merged in line with recommendations of a 2013 presidential taskforce on parastatal reforms for having either become “obsolete, irrelevant, or duplicate functions of other corporations.”

The taskforce, chaired by former Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohammed, proposed far-reaching measures in the structure and organisation of parastatals to curb waste, including the scrapping of whole entities and the merging of others.

EPC was established in 1992 with the objective of addressing obstacles facing exporters and producers of export goods and services and increasing performance of the export sector.

Its primary objective was to address bottlenecks facing exporters and producers of export goods and services with a view to increasing the performance of the export sector.

Ms Mwaniki took over EPC from Mr Matanda Wabuyele.

Her replacement signals the fact that parastatal reforms may not takeoff in a General Election year where sacking CEOs may backfire on the government.