The new Roads and Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen has directed Kenya Ports Authority board to dismantle the illegal bloated management structure which was implemented by the agency’s cartels without the blessings of the Public Service Commission.
PSC has stated that it was not part of the process that led to the adoption of the expanded structural changes at the port of Mombasa. Any structural changes made at entities such as KPA without the approval of PSC are deemed illegal and unconstitutional.
The cartels behind the new structure never bothered to make a formal request to PSC before establishing any new positions or reviewing the organisational structure of KPA as required by law since the agency falls under its mandate.
The cartels created a bloated structure of management with some senior officers having overlapping roles that has led to mssive waste of public funds.
CS Murkomen has since directed the KPA board to abolish the illegal organisation structure which created 14 positions of general managers and revert back to the old lean and legal structure.
A section of top managers who benefitted from the controversial structure are currently fundraising to counter the CS’s move through the courts to delay the looming return to the old structure.
Murkomen promised during his vetting by parliament that he would be ruthless in fighting corruption at the port of Mombasa in a bid to make the State Agency more efficient.
KPA has been under the influence of cartels who loot and manupulate its operations outside the official channels. The cartels also also control the procurement department and determine who wins which tender in exchange of bribes and kickbacks.
But Murkomen has also hinted at reversing key port contracts after learning that KPA was coerced to give away the Sh52 billion new Second Container Terminal to a private operator. He is also keen on a number of projects including allocation of public land near port facilities and terminals at the port to private investors such as the controversial multi-billion contract given to Autoports Freight Terminal to operate at the Nairobi Inland Cargo Terminal by the Kenya Railways Corporation.
Autoports is associated with the family of former Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho who colluded with KRC to forge documents and bag the contract to operate at the Nairobi Freight Terminal which was built by tax payers’ money.
Murkomen further raised questions over operations of phase II of the second container terminal at the Port of Mombasa. The project is financed by government-to-government loan facility from the Japanese government under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), with Japanese firm- Toyo Construction Company Limited, as the contractor.
