Kenya Power boss Bernard Ngugi at the company headquarters in Nairobi on 29/10/19 Trouble at the Kenya Power worsened yesterday after the board let go of its Managing Director Bernard Ngugi barely two years into his three-year contract.
The board said Mr Ngugi had resigned, but insiders said his exit is part of the intrigues that have seen several managers at the power distributor sacked over irregularities in the award of tenders.
“On behalf of the board of directors, I take this opportunity to thank Mr Bernard Ngugi for his dedicated service to the company, and wish him all the best in his future endevours,” said Kenya Power Chairperson Vivienne Yeda.
Another source said Ngugi received a poor evaluation rating from the majority of the new Board members who were not in good terms with him. READ MORE
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“This was an opportunity for the Board to show him the exit door during the renewal of his three-year term,” explained the source.
His exit did not appear to have a significant impact on the firm’s share price at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) yesterday, closing the day at Sh1.40, up from Sh1.38 on Tuesday.
Ngugi, whose term was to end in October next year, has since been replaced by Rosemary Oduor on an interim basis.
Oduor was until her appointment the general manager, commercial services and sales.
Having survived a 2018 purge on several senior managers, Ngugi’s exit is said to have caught many insiders by surprise.
In 2018, when most senior managers were being kicked out following investigations into the Sh4.5 billion scandal on transformer tenders, Ngugi, who was then the procurement manager, along with his finance colleague had been sent on compulsory leave.This was after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered all procurement and finance managers of ministries and State corporations to step aside.As a result, the then acting procurement manager was sacrificed. His return saw him given the high seat. But yesterday, his term was cut short as the boardroom wrangles at the loss-making power utility were intensified by an impending restructuring driven by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Kenya Power, which is technically insolvent as its short-term liabilities exceed its short-term assets, has for long been propped by the National Treasury even though it is a private company listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). The government has a significant stake in the country’s sole […]
