Parastatal with a record of favouring MDs’ tribesmen

He’s hardly been a month at the helm of the Energy and Petroleum docket but new Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir is already flexing his muscles.

He has sent the Managing Director of the Kenya Pipeline Company, Mr Selest Kilinda, home to pave the way for an investigation into the corporation’s recruitment practices especially with regard to the vexed issues of ethnic diversity and nepotism.

“The Cabinet secretary has studied the report by the Efficiency Monitoring Unit (EMU) and has found it necessary to ask you to proceed on your 30 days normal leave to facilitate full investigations,” said a letter to Kilinda signed on the minister’s behalf by a deputy secretary in the ministry of Energy, Mr Paul Ngatia.

On the face of it, Mr Chirchir has acted on the recommendations of the EMU investigations. But in reality, what is happening is a reflection of the shifts in the balance of power in the energy sector.

The new wielders of power in the sector want to have their way. And, the EMU report has merely provided them with fresh political ammunition.

But what exactly does the EMU report say? In his four years at the helm, Kilinda was found to have hired three siblings—two brothers and a sister.

Kilinda’s sister is a telephonist, one brother was hired as a welder while the other holds a clerical position. Clearly, a case of nepotism. But you have to put the whole saga in context to correctly assess the gravity of the sins for which Kilinda is being asked to step aside.

One of the main highlights of the EMU report is a statistical representation of how successive managing directors have in the past packed the ranks of KPC’s workforce with their tribesmen.

Strategic asset

KPC is a strategic national asset and is viewed as the umbilical cord of the  oil marketing industry in East Africa. That it has been run without regard to  meritocracy in employment is a sorry affair.

According to the EMU report, the comapany employed a total of 197 new employees  under Kilinda’s watch. Out of these, 25 were Taitas (Kilinda’s tribe).

In the remaining cases documented in the report, what you see is a trend where MDs made sure that the majority of new employees hired under their watch were their tribesmen.

Several examples stand ou.  During the reign of  Mr  Ezekiel Komen between  February 1988 to February, 2001, a total of 254 people were recruited. Out of that number, 147 were Kalenjins.

During the tenure of Dr Shem Ochuodho between March 2003 and June 2005, 149 new staffers were hired. Out of those, 54 were Luos.

During Mr William Mbote’s tenure between  November 1980 and January 1993, a total of 503 people were hired. Out this this, 169 were Kikuyu. During George Okungu’s time, 309 new employees were hired. Of these, 67 were Luos.

When Mr Linus Cheruyoit was MD between March 2001 to March 2003, KPC hired 226 new employees of which 120 were Kalenjins.

Chirchir has not yet drawn up the terms of reference for the new investigation he has ordered into hiring practices at the company. But in an ethnically divided Kenya,  dealing with  tribalism and nepotism is no easy task.

The KPC saga has the potential of  sparking off a loud and divisive debate leading to clamour for a comprehensive ethnic audit of most of the large parastatals.

In the case of KPC, statistsic show that the current ethnic composition of  its workforce is skewed in favour of the large tribes.

The Kalenjins, with 427 employees, are the largest group.  They are followed by Kikuyus (317), Luos (242), Luhya (182), Kamba (112), Kisii (86) Taita (73) and Meru (57).

With regard to composition of  top managers, the EMU report found that Kikuyus and Kalenjins tied at 18 per cent, Luos and Luhya at 12 per cent with the other ethnic groups accounting for the remaining top positions.

But even if the main objective of the EMU investigation was to investigate nepotism, the report falls way short in presenting information to gauge the true state of nepotism in the company.

The upshot is that even though the EMU report has catalogued cases of nepotism at KPC, only five out of 15 senior managers were investigated. These included Kilinda (Taita),  the Human Resource Manager Rose Osiako (Luhya), Engineering Manager, Bramwel Juma (Luhya), Business Development Manager, John Kithete (Kamba) and the Finance Manager Sam Mikwa (Luo).

A comprehensive investigation  of nepotism should have widened the dragnet to include relatives of all top managers , board members, and top officials in the ministry of energy.

How events evolve remains to be seen. But the challenge for Mr Chirchir will be to navigate the situation and pre-empt perceptions that Kilinda’s case is the beginning of a campaign targeting ethnic communities which did not vote for the ruling party.