Transport minister Amos Kimunya. The minister risked contempt of court proceedings after he appointed directors who the High Court had barred from sitting on the board of KPA. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
The Kenya Gazette notices show that ministers have in the past month appointed nearly 70 directors to more than 15 companies.
Analysts base the jerk in appointments to the impending change of government.
Ministers have in the past month increased the pace of appointments to parastatal boards in what is being linked to the expiry of the tenure of the government after the March 4 poll.
The Kenya Gazette notices show that ministers have in the past month appointed nearly 70 directors to more than 15 companies.
Analysts base the jerk in appointments to the impending change of government that would see the exit of some of the ministers, prompting them to fill board seats with 61 directors being appointed in the first two weeks of this year.
The average monthly directorship appointments have ranged between 30 and 40.
Ministers who have been at the forefront of the boardroom shifts include Samuel Poghisio (Information), Anyang’ Nyong’o (Medical Services), Henry Kosgey (Industrialisation), Kiraitu Murungi (Energy) and Amos Kimunya (Transport).
The companies affected are the Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, East African Portland Cement Company, Kenyatta National Hospital and National Hospital Insurance Fund.
Others are the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), Kenya Film Commission (KFC), National Oil, Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, Konza City and Kenya Medical Training College.
“Just before elections happen, incumbent regimes make last minute appointments that are either politically motivated, a case of clearing up appointment backlogs or both,” said Kenya Institute of Management chief executive David Muturi.
“The appointment to boards of public enterprises is largely a political process that calls for intense lobbying for consideration.”
Top jobs in public institutions have always been hotly contested, especially because the appointing authority is either a minister or the President.
This is captured by the recent board changes at KPA where Mr Kimunya risked contempt of court proceedings after he appointed directors who the High Court had barred from sitting on the board of the State-owned company.
The minister appointed Bernard Njuguna, Khadija Karim, and Abdalla Mohamed as directors of KPA for a period of three years.
The three are among four individuals appointed on April 10 last year and who the court had barred from occupying board seats following a petition on grounds of nepotism.
Mr Poghisio has in the past month made board changes at Brand Kenya, CCK, Konza City, KFC and Kenya Institute of Mass Communication. This has seen him make the most changes in the month among his cabinet peers.
“While the board positions could be genuinely vacant there is more than meets the eye since this is an electioneering period,” said Mr Tiberius Barasa, a former analyst at the Centre for Policy Research think-tank.
Restricting board appointments to friend and associates is not confined in the public service. The bulk of directors in the companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange have secured their boardroom positions through business associates and friendship.
This has seen blue-chip firms tap associates of their key shareholders as well as former CEOs and retired top civil servants.
The trend, analysts said, has narrowed the pool of candidates eligible for directorship roles on the reliance on old-boy networks for appointments, and the resulting inbreeding is said to keep fresh ideas away from the boardrooms.
The Capital Markets Authority has attempted to introduce the requirement of independent directors in listed companies, but critics argue that a lack of enforcement has rendered the regulation ineffective.
