How new Kebs managing director was appointed

The National Standards Council signed a letter forwarding three names that had allegedly been shortlisted by the council.

It, however, became apparent that the chairman acted without the authority of the council because I soon after received correspondence from council members informing me that there had been no consensus on the shortlist forwarded by the chairman. 

They informed me that the letter was written before the selection process was complete and did not have the support of the council. 

The current exercise that began in August 2010 received 74 applications out of which 15 people were shortlisted and 11 people interviewed.

All the candidates were coded and their real names and identity not disclosed to the chairman, council members, the permanent secretary or myself.

The candidates were scored based on the questions asked and the top five candidates were deemed suitable for appointment subject to further vetting.

The council resolved to hold another meeting to vet the candidates further using three criteria; integrity; salary demands; track record.

Before this meeting could take place, the chairman made a unilateral decision to forward names based purely on the mean scores.

To address the concerns of council members, I directed them to hold a further meeting to try and achieve a consensus within the council. 

The meetings held by the council failed to achieve any consensus. This is in the council’s minutes and a protest letter to the chairman that was signed by eight out of 13 council members and copied to my PS and myself.

During a meeting held two days before the appointment the council resolved that the Minister uses his discretion in making the appointment. 

This discretion, they added, should be exercised from among the 5 candidates who were interviewed and who reached the final shortlist and were due for further vetting had the chairman allowed the process to reach its conclusion.

I analysed the five candidates as follows: Kebs 039 decoded as Abdikadir Omar Aden scored 70 per cent and requested a salary of Sh1,084,000. He was willing to take Sh900,000. This was still a high figure considering that the next highest paid employee at the bureau, after the managing director, earns Sh290,000.

Kebs 016 decoded as Eva Adega Oduor, one of the directors at Kebs, scored 66 per cent. 

She worked closely with the previous chief executive, but there was a general feeling that a new person should be appointed to inject bring new energy and ideas in the running of the organisation.

Kebs 019, John Mtuta Mruttu scored 64 per cent and desired a 10 per cent increase above his present salary of Sh1.2 million. In addition, he is aged 56 years.

In an ideal situation the new MD should serve more than one term, this candidate would be aged 62 years at the end of two terms.

Kebs 011 or Joseph Kipketer Koskey scored 62 per cent.  Although his score placed him at position four, a strong financial track record in his previous employment, his youth, integrity and reasonable salary requirements were all positive attributes.

Kebs 025 - Michael Ochieng Owino scored 57 per cent.

I was guided by two points in order to make a decision.

The first was that the salary of the new managing Director would have to be between Sh500,000 - 750,000. 

This salary scale is in accordance with guidelines for State Corporations in the same range as Kebs. 

That eliminated Kebs 039 and Kebs 019. The second was the council’s wish that the new managing director came from outside the organisation.

Using this criterion, I eliminated Kebs 016 as a possible candidate for the appointment.

I concluded that the next best candidate was Kebs 011, Joseph Kipketer Koskey.

Allegations of tribalism have no basis whatsoever because the identify of all the applicants was not known to any party until the process was concluded and the names were decoded. 

As the analysis shows Mr Koskey does indeed merit the appointment and should not be excluded simply because he comes from the same ethnic background as the minister.

Henry Kosgey, Minister for Industrialisation