'No thank you': Hussein Debasso rejects Ruto's NYS job appointment
Former Kenya National Trading Corporation Limited chairman Hussein Tene Debasso.
Mr Hussein Tene Debasso, who was sacked by President William Ruto as the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) board chairperson, has declined a new appointment at the National Youth Service (NYS).
Mr Debasso did not give reasons for declining a new appointment as a member of the board of the National Youth Service.
“I Hussein Tene Debasso, immediate chairman, Kenya National Trading Corporation, wish to thankfully acknowledge my appointment as member of the Board, National Youth Service vide Gazette Notice of 15th October 2024,” he said in a statement.
“Owing to personal reasons, I have written to the President of the Republic of Kenya declining the appointment.”
Public Service and Human Capital Development Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi had on November 15, 2024, appointed Mr Debasso as a member of the National Youth Service Council until February 9, 2026. Mr Muturi revoked the appointment of Ali Sahal Idris.
President Ruto had on the same date, November 15, 2024, appointed Evans Kidero as the chairperson of the KNTC board for a period of three years after revoking the appointment of Mr Debasso through Gazette Notice No. 14795.
Mr Debasso had opposed the directive by the Investment Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya that the KNTC board appoint Ms Lucy Anangwe as the corporation’s managing director.
The board chairman had refused to approve the appointment of Ms Anangwe after her name was adversely mentioned in a special audit by the Auditor General over the procurement of Sh6.5 billion edible oil scandal.
Before her appointment as the KNTC Managing Director, Ms Anangwe served as the General Manager of Strategy, Risk, and Compliance.
But at the time of the edible oil scandal, Ms Anangwe served as the KNTC head of Finance and Account Manager.
Ms Anangwe is among three individuals that Marsabit Senator Mohamed Chute claimed were being protected for promotion despite their colleagues whom they were involved with in the scandal being sent home to pave the way for investigations.
The KNTC has been in the spotlight since January 25, 2024, when former Managing Director Pamela Mutua exited the troubled corporation in the wake of a Sh6.5 billion edible oils corruption investigation at the State agency.
Senior officers at the State-owned agency are under investigation over the controversial importation of 125,000 tonnes of duty-free cooking oil.
Ms Mutua was among senior officials of the corporation who were arrested in November last year before being questioned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) over their alleged role in the scam.
This is after it emerged in June 2023 that companies owned by individuals linked to the government were single-sourced to procure edible oil through KNTC.
The cargo's importation began in October 2022, when the Cabinet gave the go-ahead to KNTC to import the cooking oil as part of a strategy to stabilise the prices of essential household items.
The controversy dogged the exercise after it emerged that KNTC single-sourced companies contracted to bring in the cargo.
The scandal emerged after MPs from the National Assembly’s Agriculture Committee raised concerns over the duty-free import and how the suppliers were identified.
In October last year, President Ruto ordered investigations into the finances of three senior-ranking government officials implicated in the scandal through the cooking of prices of imported edible oil.
This is after the three officers inflated the price by an average of $7 per litre, thus negating the original intention of Kenya importing the cooking oil.
This meant that after being converted, the 125,000,000 litres were imported at an added cost of Sh875 million. The consignment was initially estimated at a total cost of Sh9 billion.
President Ruto then directed the Head of Public Service Felix Koskei to write to the EACC to open investigations with the view of prosecuting those involved.
The DCI in November last year also launched their investigations arresting top KNTC directors as well as the bank official who guaranteed the funds.
High-ranking government officials were also sought over alleged interference with the procurement process following reports that they pushed for the consideration of specific firms.
Some directors at the agency are facing accusations of not independently making decisions in the import deals.
A parastatal chair’s company is alleged to have been favoured during the procurement process and paid her dues, only to deliver the commodity that now lies idle at the KNTC warehouse in Industrial Area, Nairobi.
