Fair and proper process the only way
COMMENT: Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya, and James Macharia, transport cabinet secretary, have been piling the pressure on Catherine Mturi-Wairi, managing director of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), to achieve greater freight movement on the new Chinese-built standard gauge railway (SGR) connecting Mombasa with Nairobi, writes Mike Mundy.
The elimination of vested interest has been a key theme in this initiative and, as part of this drive, 14 officers of the KPA have been removed from their posts.
Evidently some parties have wanted to maintain past practices rather than shift cargo onto the SGR, but Mr Macharia speaking recently in Mombasa made it very clear that the government is committed to achieving a seamless freight train operation which will play a major part in alleviating congestion and cargo delays at the port.
Similarly, President Kenyatta has underlined that there is no room for pilferage and wastage in his administration and that there will be a price to be paid by those found doing so.
“We want,” he said, “to categorically and clearly state that funny practices that lead to loss or wastage of public resources will not be allowed. We will not entertain anybody messing up with government resources.”
In another significant move at the beginning of March, Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission commenced lifestyle audits of some of the top KPA managers with the aim of establishing the source of their wealth.
This shake-up follows a similar purge of KPA management in early 2016 which saw Gichiri Ndua, managing director and his senior aides Twalib Khamisi (operations), Muthoni Gatere (legal services and company secretary), Justus Nyarandi (co-operative services) and Mohamed Morowa (security services) retired from service.
This ousting happened in conjunction with KPA terminating the concession process for the port’s new second container terminal as it identified that the process was open to corruption.
Both clean-up exercises in the KPA will undoubtedly be welcomed by those foreign investors still waiting to see if and when the KPA initiates a new concession process for the second container terminal.
Participating in such a process is not a cheap exercise and takes some considerable time and effort. It is only right and proper that a new concession process is conducted in an even-handed and fair manner, without manipulation designed to favour any specific party.