Kenya Airways appoints finance director in turnaround strategy

Kenya Airways’ board has appointed Dick Murianki as the acting group finance director in a move largely seen as part of the turnaround strategy the national carrier is undertaking to recover from dwindling fortunes.

Mr Murianki is a long serving employee of KQ with experience of beyond 12 years and is currently the airline’s general manager for its cargo business. He takes over from Alex Mbugua.

KQ’s board chair Dennis Awori said that the position “will be substantively filled through a competitive interview process to be undertaken in due course”.

Prior to joining KQ, Mr Murianki also worked with Ernst and Young, now EY, for eight years in accountancy and business consultancy roles.

Meanwhile, former transport principal secretary Joseph Nduva Muli has resigned from the KQ board and has been replaced by the current PS Irungu Nyakera.

KQ suffered Sh25.7 billion net loss for the year to March 2015 which is almost eight times of a net loss of Sh3.4 billion it posted in the previous year.

The airline’s management blamed the massive loss to cancellation of flights to West Africa following the outbreak of ebola and stiff competition from United Arab Emirates airlines.

A probe by a select committee of the Senate carried out last year however pointed at lack of adequate internal control systems that allowed fraud initiated by staff as part of the airline’s woes.

The company’s plan to invest billions in dreamliner aircrafts has also in the past been criticised as the move was largely viewed as untimely.

An overhaul of the senior management is one of the conditions given by the government to bail out the national carrier.