Kibwana, Ngumi reappointed KPA, ICDC chairpersons
General (Rtd) Joseph Kibwana (left) and Mr John Ngumi.
General (Rtd) Joseph Kibwana and Mr John Ngumi have been reappointed as the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) chairpersons respectively for a term of three years.
Gen (Rtd) Kibwana was reappointed one year after leaving the office after his term for the same position expired June last year while Mr Ngumi’s term in office ended in May this year.
In a gazette notice dated July 13, 2022, President Uhuru Kenyatta revoked the appointment of Kibwana as chairperson of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Board while National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani appointed him KPA board chair.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 4 (a) of the Kenya Ports Authority Act, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning appoints Gen (Rtd) Joseph R. E. Kibwana to be the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the KPA, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from the 13th July, 2022,” read the gazette notice.
Kibwana was appointed as KWS chairperson in December 2021 after he left as KPA chairperson in June 5, a position which remained vacant until his reappointment last week.
The reappointment of Kibwana comes in handy considering KPA has not made some key decision after him and three other directors’ term ended in June 5 last year with the key parastatal not having a substantive managing director (MD).
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In February 2021, Mr Yatani appointed Mr John Mwangemi as acting KPA MD to replace Eng. Rashid Salim who had been acting for more than a year.
The position of KPA MD fell vacant in March last year after then MD Daniel Manduku who was less than two years in the job before he resigned after battling graft allegations for months where Mr Salim was appointed on an interim basis.
Since then, the government has conducted three interviews to get replacement in vain with political interference blamed in the first two exercises.
Kibwana, who retired as Chief of General Staff in 2005, in the Friday’s gazettement where Mr Ngumi was appointed as chairman of ICDC, was also picked to serve as a board member of ICDC.
Others appointed by CS Yatani to serve as ICDC directors include Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Chairperson Rita Okuthe, Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) Chairperson Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) Pastor Omudho Awitta and Chairperson Postal Corporation of Kenya, Peter Kanaiya.
ICDC is a holding company which coordinates Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN) which was formed in September 2020 where three state agencies KPA, KPC and KRC (KRC) work under one roof to leverage on the efficiencies and synergies of the four State agencies to achieve Kenya’s strategic agenda of becoming a regional logistics hub.
KTLN was meant to reduce increasing high penalties paid to port facilities, detention charges to Shipping lines, delays in railage to the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi (ICDN), delays in off-loading and return of empties and very unstable automated systems by agencies as issues forcing importers opt to use Central Corridor.
