The government on Monday moved to make changes at Kenya Power by axing several board members in a bid to revive the fortunes of the struggling electricity retailer.
In a notice to shareholders, the Kenya Power board on Tuesday announced the exits of several board members following poor financial performance and out of control corruption over the last few years that has rendered the monopoly a shadow of its former self.
Board members who were pushed out include independent directors Adil Khawaja, Kairo Thuo, Wilson Kimutai, Brenda Kokoi and Zipporah Kering.
This leaves Mahboub Maalim (Chairperson), Bernard Ngugi (Managing Director &CEO), Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, Imelda Bore, Eng Isaac Kiva and Beatrice Gathirwa as the remaining board members.
“The company would like to sincerely thank the directors for their commitment and dedicated services and wishes them the best in their future endevours,” read a statement issued by Kenya Power.
According to sources, the government is on a house cleaning mission after conceding that the company was slowly being driven to the red.
The prosecution of two former managing directors Ben Chumo and Ken Tarus laid bare the runaway corruption at the firm but the scale of damage done was not manifested until the company’s financial results exposed the rot at the company.
In the year ended June 2019, the company’s profits fell by 92% from Ksh3.27 billion to Ksh262 million which led to questions regarding the running of the organisation.
The company attributed the tanking of the profits to the rise in non-fuel power purchase costs from Ksh52.795 billion to Ksh70.878 billion.
In June, the company issued a profit warning for the second year running cautioning investors that its earnings for the last financial year ended June 2020 are set to fall further.
