Anxiety as roads agency boss term ends
Eric Wainaina @Ewainaina
Confusion has engulfed the appointment of the next Director-General of the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) to succeed Eng Peter Mundinia, who is scheduled to retire in three months.
Mundinia, who was appointed on August 28, 2015 exits after serving for two terms. He took over from Linus Tonui.
Six engineers in-charge of various directorates in the agencies have expressed interest in succeeding Mudinia in the agency that is currently running multi-billion shilling roads projects across the country.
The People Daily has established that those eying the position are Infrastructure Secretary at the State Department of Infrastructure Eng Francis Gitau who is also the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority CEO, Eng David Muchilwa who has been serving as director for development and who previously served as KeNHA’s General Manager Special Projects.
Others are the director, Roads Asset and Corridor Management Eng Kung’u Ndungu and his counterpart in charge of Highway Planning and Design Eng. Samuel Omer.
Others being touted include Eng James Gatitu, in charge of Policy, Strategy and Compliance as well as Eng Mutii Kivoto, who has been the general manager maintenance.
According to sources at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the KeNHA Board, which is chaired by Eng Wangai Ndirangu should have already initiated the process of recruiting Mundinia’s successor, which would have involved a vacancy advertisement three months to the lapse of the term and sending him on terminal leave which is yet to happen.
“Ordinarily, what should happen is that once the term of the Director General is about to expire, the board should kick off the recruitment process immediately, especially in the scenario we are in where the term of the current holder is not renewable.
“Advertisement for the recruitment should happen at least three months to the expiry of the term and the holder sent on terminal leave to facilitate the process so that once he returns, he hands over to the new DG.
But that is yet to happen and Mudinia is still in office,” a source in the ministry told the People Daily yesterday.
When contacted, Eng Wangai declined to comment on why announcement for the position was yet to be advertised or why Mundinia had not proceeded on terminal leave, saying “that it is an issue between an employer and his employee and therefore, it is unfair to discuss it”.
He, however, maintained that the process to replace Mundinia was ongoing adding : “I think we have complied with the provisions of the law that guides the process.”
The delay in the process has plunged those hoping to take over at the agency to a state of confusion and disgruntlement even as it emerged that some power brokers and politicians from across the political divide are pushing for respective preferred individuals.
“The engineers are aware that Mundinia is about to retire and have started positioning themselves.
Politicians and power brokers, just like it has been the norm in successions in lucrative government positions, are keen to control the process,” said the source.
According to the Kenya Roads Act 2007, which establishes the authority and provides guidelines for the process of recruitment of a DG, “Each Authority shall have a Director-General, who shall be appointed by the concerned Board in consultation with the Minister from among three candidates competitively selected by the Board”.
