KPA forced back to the drawing board, to start MD recruitment afresh

Treasury CS Ukur Yatani has forced the management of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) back to the drawing board after he rejected proposed names for the next Managing Director.

In a letter dated March 2 and seen by Citizen Digital CS Yatani said none of three submitted names met the threshold for appointment.

“I have reviewed the list of names, scores and ranking of the candidates proposed for appointment as Managing Director, Kenya Ports Authority, and note that all the candidates scored below the desired threshold of 70 per cent in the interview,” CS Yatani said in the letter copied to Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and Transport CS James Macharia.

Consequently, KPA’s board has been directed to undertake a fresh recruitment process and conclude the exercise within the next 45 days.

Last week, KPA board interviewed six candidates for the role before forwarding a shortlist of three to the Treasury for subsequent appointment.

The list included former Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport project (LAPSSET) CEO Sylvester Kasuku, former Devolution Principal Secretary Mabruk Mwanamaka and TMEA East Africa Director James Ng’ang’a.

The process was nevertheless shrouded in controversy including bias and intimidation claims on potential candidates drawn from a pool of senior KPA managers.

KPA has been without a substantive Managing Director since the resignation of Daniel Manduku from the post in March last year after which Rashid Salim was appointed in acting capacity.