KPC board split over move to suspend top brass linked to oil spill scandal

An attempt by Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) chairman John Ngumi to send home the entire management team hit a snag on Tuesday due to lack of quorum.

Mr. Ngumi had convened a board meeting on Tuesday morning with the aim of getting the nod to suspend the management team over the Ksh.1 billion ‘spilt’ fuel theft scandal.

Only five of the board members are reported to have showed up meaning there was no quorum required for any decision making. A quorum requires six board members.

This forced Mr. Ngumi to postpone the vote to next week.

Ngumi’s move is likely to heighten the tension and wrangles at Kenya Pipeline Company with claims that the board and the management have been at logger heads for long.

The company top brass insists that there was oil spillage and not a theft racket as claimed by the media and are ready to defend themselves.

Last week, the Daily Nation had an exclusive report on how KPC has allegedly tried to cover up for theft of fuel in a scam that could have run for years.

The report detailed instances where KPC claimed of oil spillage in different parts of the country and had turned to their insurer to try and get compensation.

The Daily Nation claimed to have visited all the locations of the reported spillage and came back with nothing.

KPC, reported the paper, had told the oil marketing companies that more than 7.2 million litres were lost through spillage and another 4.4 million litres stolen at Koru, near Kisumu.

KPC’s main objective is to provide efficient, reliable, safe and cost effective means of transporting petroleum products from Mombasa to the rest of the country.