Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has appointed Nana Gecaga as acting managing director of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). Ms Nana, whose appointment took effect last Friday, is President Uhuru Kenyatta’s niece and a sister to Uhuru’s personal assistant Jomo Gecaga.
The appointment has put the president and the entire Jubilee administration in the spotlight again over widespread nepotism in public appointments. Most state appointments are dominated by President Uhuru’s Kikuyus and Deputy President William Ruto’s Kalenjins and key positions have been reserved for their relatives, even in cases where they grossly are under-qualified.
Ms Nana will remain in office until the position is competitively and substantially filled, Balala said in a statement on Monday. She has worked as Balala’s marketing and special programmes adviser, having been seconded from the KICC where she worked as head of marketing.
She has also worked with international firms on various projects and was involved in bringing international celebrities to Kenya to showcase products including conference tourism. In 2009, Ms Nana was instrumental in securing the MTV Africa Music Awards that earned Kenya a lot of fame locally and internationally.
She has a degree in marketing from the American InterContinental University, London, and a wealth of experience in public relations and marketing and plays an active role in the operations of Kenyatta family media empire, Mediamax, which runs the People Daily newspaper, K24 TV, Milele FM and Kameme FM among other media outets.
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