To run efficiently, parastatals must be removed from politics

What you need to know:

  • I can attest to the fact that the man displays an almost obsessive interest when discussing and debating aircraft, flying, and aviation in general.

  • When you sit to chat with Gen Karangi, he strikes you as remarkably knowledgeable and informed on a very broad range of public policy issues.

  • Yet I will still maintain that his appointment to the position of chairman of KAA might not have had anything to do with his passion and interest in aviation.

We all expected that sooner or later, Rtd General Julius Karangi, the former head of the defence forces, would return to public life in some capacity.

But his appointment by President Uhuru Kenyatta to the position of chairman of the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) came as a bit of a surprise, especially when you consider skills set and relevant experience.

Currently, the rave in the corporate world is what is known in business school mumbo jumbo as “deep domain knowledge and understanding”, the argument being that one needs to have a broad-based understanding of a particular industry to qualify to be appointed to a position or office.

Perhaps the President considered General Karangi’s wide experience and passion for aviation and the fact that he is a pilot and former commander of the Air Force as important credentials.

Having personally had an opportunity to interact and have a long discussion with him, I can attest to the fact that the man displays an almost obsessive interest when discussing and debating aircraft, flying, and aviation in general.

When you sit to chat with Gen Karangi, he strikes you as remarkably knowledgeable and informed on a very broad range of public policy issues.

Yet I will still maintain that his appointment to the position of chairman of KAA might not have had anything to do with his passion and interest in aviation.

If you, like me, are a student of corporate governance in the parastatal sector, and if you regularly follow the politics in the key parastatals in this country, you would know about the in-fighting and wrangling that has been going on in the board of this strategic parastatal over the appointment of a new CEO.

The board had been brought to a state of paralysis by self-absorbed appointees of powerful patrons who, totally blinded by narrow ethnic calculations, were incapable of appreciating the damage their unending games were doing to the health of this critical national institution.

We behave as if we have forgotten that we are relying on this parastatal to implement the key projects that we need in order to fulfil our ambition of becoming a much bigger aviation hub in Africa.

COST OF BAD POLITICS

Do we realise what a profitable, stable, and professionally run KAA can deliver to the economy of this country in terms of promoting travel and tourism?

Have we weighed the potential and role that a well-managed KAA can play as we struggle to shore up the dwindling fortunes of our national carrier, Kenya Airways?

In view of the scope of work and projects it must undertake, KAA will require heavy financing.

How are the financiers likely to react to incessant instability in the corporation’s management? These are the issues we should be focusing on.

I gather that right now, the authority has 11 vacant positions in its top management.

Which is why General Karangi must leverage on his own status, calibre, and experience in public service to wrest KAA from the clutches of greedy political patrons who have demonstrated that their only interest is to protect the careers of their cronies and who are blind to the fact that what this country needs is a well-managed and professionally run airport authority guided by a board that practises good corporate governance principles.

Bad politics is why the history of parastatals has been a long and boring tale of inefficient and debt-plagued State corporations.

Even after we passed a new Constitution, we are yet to discard the bad corporate governance practices that have undermined management and impeded critical strategic parastatals from helping the country to achieve its development ambitions.

It all starts with pre-election deals in which ethnic kingpins agree on a formula for sharing public jobs and positions between their cronies and to the exclusion of others.

Then they arbitrarily fill boards of parastatals with political appointees without regard to qualifications and experience and mainly on the grounds of political loyalty.

These political appointees and cronies will approach their work in the parastatals as if what is most important is personal service, obedience, and duty to the ethnic kingpins who appointed them to those positions.

Modern corporate virtues such as hierarchical authority, expertise, and neutrality are thrown out of the window.

When, as a political appointee to a top parastatal job, you know that you have the support of a powerful patron, you will engage in freelance rent-seeking safe in the knowledge that you will enjoy protection from the appointing authority. We need to insulate our key parastatals from bad politics.