Long list of acting CEOs puts parastatals in dicey situation

What you need to know:

  • A source from one of the key energy parastatals told Smart Company that the acting status render the parastatal chiefs puppets of senior government officials who keep them under undue pressure so that they “tore the line”.
  • This uncertain situation is having an adverse impact on service delivery in the government agencies as the acting bosses are too timid to act.

Tens of the bosses at the helm of government agencies are serving in acting capacity constraining their ability to perform their roles freely.

Smart Company has learnt that several parastatal heads have not been confirmed to the positions and are unable to take decisive actions, hampering service delivery.

While most appointments to such positions are meant to last an average of three years, some of the appointees have remained in acting capacity for more than four years. Indeed some of the agencies are marked as ‘corporate hot seats’ with one acting manager replacing another almost every year.

From the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Capital Markets Authority (CMA), National Police Service (NPS), ICT Authority, Kenya Pipeline (KPC), Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board (KNEB) and National Police Service (NPS), the list of state corporations with acting heads is long.

This uncertain situation is having an adverse impact on service delivery in the government agencies as the acting bosses are too timid to act.

In 2013, Public Service Commission Chairperson Margaret Kobia said unlike chief executive officers who make decisions, those acting are required to consult their boards before making major decisions.

“Procurement of multi-billion projects must be done with constant consultations with the boards. In a state parastatal where the acting head is appointed by the board, he or she can however just make decisions sometimes, if they are legally conforming,” Prof Kobia said.

Some of those in acting capacities are also playing other roles, effectively setting them up for underperformance.

A source from one of the key energy parastatals told Smart Company that the acting status render the parastatal chiefs puppets of senior government officials who keep them under undue pressure so that they “tore the line”.

“The boss is very insecure up there, he cannot wait for the day he will quit or be fully appointed because he is in a status of weakness. It is a place you can easily be tipped over by a small thing,” said the source who sought to speak in confidence owing to the sensitivity of the matter.
“Next year is elections my friend and I can assure you the situation is not easy in these key agencies now.”

Last week, Mr Andrew Kituyi was the latest entrant to the long list of acting bosses following his appointment as Managing Director of the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation.

Water Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa elevated Mr Kituyi from his former role as general manager in charge of finance, replacing Ms Jacqueline Musyoki who resigned. Ms Musyoki and several government engineers are being investigated by the board over substandard construction of the Narok check dams which collapsed causing loss of lives and property.

CMA Acting Chief Executive Paul Muthaura has borne the Ag prefix to his title for the longest time. The CEO is now serving his fourth year in acting capacity.

Mr Mwaura left his role as  head of regulatory and strategy at the CMA after  former CEO Stella Kilonzo opted not to have her contract renewed, ending her four-year reign in office in June 2012.

CMA is in charge of licensing and supervising all the capital markets intermediaries. It is also charged with promoting capital markets development through research on new products and institutions.

In some cases, industry players have publicly voiced concern over the management limbos that the government agencies find themselves in with their leadership in acting capacities.

Last month, stakeholders in the ICT sector asked the newly appointed Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru   to appoint a chief executive to head the ICT Authority to avoid stalling of projects managed by the agency. 

The position has been held by an acting CEO, Robert Mugo after the then chief executive Victor Kyalo was appointed principal secretary in the ICT ministry last year.

The authority handles the school laptops project, which is to be implemented beginning this year. It is also responsible for all government ICT functions.
“The legal instrument establishing the ICT Authority does not envisage a situation where the body operates without a CEO,” said Information Communication Technology Association of Kenya (ICTAK) Secretary-General Kamotho Njenga.

“In view of the strategic role ICTA is expected to play towards the Kenyan digital drive, it would be imprudent to leave the agency headless over a protracted period,” he said.

Kenya Airports Authority Managing Director Yatich Kangugo has been acting since last year. He took over the helm of the country’s key aviation institution after last year’s bus contract scandal led to the kicking out of former KAA Managing Director Lucy Mbugua. She had been a full MD but suffered a record three interdictions in three months.

In August 2014, former Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei appointed Mr Alfred Busolo as the interim director general of the Agriculture Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA). He is still acting more than one year on.

His counterpart at the Horticultural Crops Development Authority (HCDA) Zakayo Magara has been acting for a similar period. Mr Magara replaced Ms Grace Kyalo after the latter was suspended following the banning of Kenya’s horticultural products in the European Union market for containing excess chemicals.

The same fate saw the suspension of former Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate managing director Dr James Osando and ushering in of the current MD Dr Esther Kimani into the class of acting bosses in government.

The list would go on and on, but one striking parastatal in the acting saga is the Kenya Pipeline Cooperation where four managing directors have been in the hot seat in less than three years. The latest advert to confirm/replace current Acting Managing Director Joe Sang was made on Friday.

INTRIGUES AND SURPRISES

Mr Sang was appointed in January shortly after Company Secretary Flora Okoth completed her acting role which she had been performing from July when she took over from Charles Tanui, who had been suspended following allegations of irregularly awarding a Sh29 million contract for installation of autotransformers. He has since been charged in court.

The position of acting CEO is full of intrigues and surprises too. Sources at the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority intimated to Smart Company how the former acting director general was “surprised” by his replacement last year when the current director general Gilbert Kibe was named.

In January 2015, former Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) chief executive Catherine Adeya-Weya, opted out after being kept in acting position for two years. It was, however, clear from her statements that bureaucratic tendering, resource constraints and the slow pace of takeoff had largely influenced her decision.

Whether the acting roles are meant to be dangled as political baits or whether the State is using them to pile pressure on the officers to perform, the effects of the governance limbo will continue to be felt as the list of actors grows.