Sameer Africa External Auditors KPMG have resigned, even as the company faces a bleak future following reduced revenues occasioned by mismanagement.
The move was announced by company secretary Edgar Imbamba, who said the board had appointed RSM Eastern Africa LLP to fill the void.
“This is to notify you that following the resignation of the Company’s External Auditors, Ms KPMG Kenya, the Board of Directors of the Company at their meeting held on 4th December, 2019, took note of the said resignation and appointed Ms RSM Eastern Africa LLP to fill in the position as a casual vacancy pending confirmation at the next Annual General Meeting of the Company,” said Imbamba in the notice to shareholders.
This comes at a time the company has closed the tyre business, which is its main business, and started disposing assets.
Read: Sameer Africa To Sack 73 Employees As Firm Closes Down Tyre Business
This writer understands that KPMG has been threatening to resign since the beginning of 2019, demanding the resignation of the former managing director Mr Simon Ngigi, who had been appointed from Longhorn Publishers.
Longhorn Publishers is owned by Chris Kirubi, whose kin Andrew Musangi bought substantial stake in the company in 2019.
Mr Ngigi was appointed strategically before Mr Musangi announced that he had bought shares in the company in July 2019.
Afterwards, Mr Ngigi resigned in September 2019, with the company announcing that he had quit to pursue “personal interests”. However, we understand that Ngigi was pushed out to give way for a new managing director, to try and please KPMG.
In his place, Peter Gitonga, a board member, was appointed as the acting managing director. Gitonga was previously Naushad Merali’s personal assistant. Merali is the majority shareholder with a 72.15 per cent stake, and currently lives in Dubai.
It is alleged that Gitonga had used Musangi to buy the stake, eyeing the land and other assets owned by the company.Read: Sameer Africa To Lay Off 52 Employees As From February In 2016, the company was forced to close its Nairobi factory, which used to produce Yana tyres, due to stiff competition from China and India. Hundreds of employees lost their jobs.The company accused the government of failing to curb dumping of cheaper and low quality tyres in Kenya.The closure is estimated to have cost the company at least Ksh725 million.In February 2020, the company laid off at least 52 employees, attributable to tough economic times that […]
