Treasury now wants Kenya Power board out
Kenya Power offices on Aga Khan Walk in Nairobi. The National Treasury is seeking the removal of Kenya Power board directors in a fresh shakeup at the company.
The National Treasury is seeking the removal of Kenya Power board directors in a fresh shakeup at the company.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof Njuguna Ndung’u has written to the company to include a resolution for the removal of the firm’s directors during its annual general meeting (AGM) slated for December 16.
The Treasury is the majority shareholder in the power distributor, with Prof Ndung’u legally charged with the appointment of directors to the company’s Board.
“As a shareholder with 50.1 per cent shareholding in Kenya Power, we require the Board of Directors of the company to table before the AGM an ordinary resolution for the removal of directors pursuant to Article 129 of the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association,” said Prof Ndung’u.
“The special notice is to be included in the agenda of the company’s 101 AGM to be held by December 31, 2022, and shall recommend the removal of Vivienne Yeda as a Director of the company,” said the CS in the letter addressed to Kenya Power Secretary Imelda Bore.
Exits
Kenya Power has already announced that current Board chairman Vivienne Yeda will be exiting the company as a director with effect from the date of the AGM.
Ms Yeda’s exit follows those of Elizabeth Rogo, Abdulrazaq Ali, and Caroline Kittony-Waiyaki who resigned from the firm in June.
The Treasury’s move comes despite directors Yida Kemoli, Sarah Mbwaya, James Gitiba, and Justice (Rtd) Aaron Ringera offering themselves for re-election to the company’s key decision-making organ.
Kenya Power, the country’s sole power distributor, has regularly been on the spot for the wrong reasons mainly due to frequent leadership wrangles, mismanagement, and poor service delivery.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu recently put Kenya Power on the spot for spending Sh2 billion in the financial year 2021/22 without the approval of the National Treasury.
Ms Gathungu flagged the company’s irregular procurement of goods and services, stating that the corporation risks facing court actions by suppliers over a breach of procurement rules and poured doubt on the suitability of 36 employees hired by the utility firm last year without following the due process.
The company has also been searching for a substantive Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for more than a year following the hasty exit of former CEO Bernard Ngugi in August last year.
