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KPA boss Mturi-Wairi sent on compulsory leave

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Kenya Ports Authority managing director Catherine Mturi-Wairi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director Catherine Mturi-Wairi has been sent on compulsory leave over the inefficiency and cargo delays at the Port of Mombasa, less than two years after she was confirmed on the job.

The decision to send her packing was made earlier on Wednesday after a special board meeting chaired by Mr Michael Maina and attended by Transport PS Paul Maringa. Mr Maina is a member of the Board and had to step in as the substantive chairman Marsden Madoka is away in the US.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Maina said the board had decided to send Ms Wairi home due to lack of effective leadership at the port, non-responsive work culture, consistent failure to implement board resolutions, the absence of explicit performance targets and the failure to implement them.

The meeting resolved that Dr Daniel Manduku takes over in an acting capacity with immediate effect for a period of two months pending further directions. Dr Manduku, an architect, has been the CEO of the National Construction Authority and is expected to report to work Thursday morning.

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No coordination

At a press briefing at the port late Wednesday, Mr Maina said the decision to pick Dr Manduku had been done in consultation with the Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia.

"It is regrettable that there has been minimal or no visible coordination of the multiagency activities within the port. The situation can only be explained by a lack of effective leadership at the port,” Mr Maina said, noting that the outgoing MD is responsible for all these aspects inefficiency.

He revealed the port has experienced a breakdown of systems on cargo evacuation which has led to serious congestion of the facility in the last seven days.

"Blame does not only fall on the MD, it falls on anyone who is part and parcel of service not being delivered to Kenyans," added Mr Maina.

Prof Maringa defended the decision arguing it was in the best interest of the port. He denied the decision was a witch hunt and revealed that Ms Wairi had been given a chance to defend herself.  

"It was a rational process because she was given the opportunity to defend herself. People in an organisation rise and fall on leadership because the buck stops with them. When you tame challenges at the level of the leadership, then you resolve most of the problems because all people work under instructions," the PS observed. 

 The PS regretted that numerous challenges had been highlighted in the past by the board with little or no action being taken, which he placed squarely at Ms Wairi’s doorstep.

Political, business interests

The outgoing MD was appointed on July 12, 2016 having served in an acting capacity for five months. The port is usually a battlefield of political and business interests seeking to control the gateway to the region and the benefits that come with it.

There has been reports that part of the congestion has been caused by sabotage from some of the workers.

Prof Maringa said the port has international standards on how it should operate, noting that it must uphold efficient management in the flow of cargo. 

"The holding capacity of any port for it to be efficient is actually at risk when it hit 79 per cent level of capacity, these are the challenges we are confronting. You need to track how much cargo comes in, various avenues of evacuation of cargo and how efficiently they are coordinate," Prof Maringa added. 

The PS said computerised systems should not be blamed in Ms Wairi’s woes saying that he has been staying at the port until 2am just to ensure the backlog is cleared.

"We have been working here to ensure effective service delivery. We have been able to bring down cargo load from 22,000 teus which was fully congested level to 12,500 teus our target is to stabilise it to 4000 teus. The port was not being managed effectively," the PS insisted.

The board expects the new MD to take control, provide effective, timely leadership position, guidance and be full accountable. 

"If you don't deliver today you choke the port tomorrow. The build-up of the cargo has been here for two months," the PS noted.