Joseph Sitati and Maurice Nduranu have been sacked from the board of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KeNGen).
In 2021, Mr Sitati was in the news after being dragged on Twitter by his baby mama Njeri Thorne for neglecting his child.
In court documents, Ms Thorne had sought Sh200k for child upkeep.
Mr Sitati, responded in an affidavit saying he can only afford Sh30,000 for the minor’s upkeep as the prayer by Njeri to be given Sh200,000 is not itemized, therefore ‘grossly exaggerated, inflated not supported, not corroborated and frivolous to meet her (the plaintiff’s) selfish ends’.
The defendant argued that with a monthly expenditure of Sh320,000, he lives hands-to-mouth and therefore, ‘cannot be reasonably expected to meet the subject child’s expenditure at Sh200,000’.
Mr Sitati said that the Sh30,000 offer to Ms. Thorne is to cater for food and upkeep; he also offered to pay school fees for the child in ‘a school of his choice’, a thing that Ms. Thorne rejected.
“…That his proposal to pay school fees when she is of school age and at a school of his choice is outrageous given he does not know the child”, She argued then.
“Anyways, Isla is fine and flourishing. But she wont be raised in Kenya,” Njeri wrote on Twitter after her defeat in Court.
Tough luck
In court she had further argued that she has two other kids that she is solely responsible for that costs her Sh700,000 per month and that with the child she had with Sitati, she had to ‘rely on well-wishers and patience from their landlords etc. as I dint have enough to cover the costs’.
Sitati complained that the court hears him because, ‘unless my proposals on maintenance are considered, the plaintiff is likely to persist to continue to demand exaggerated amounts from me and my ability to maintain my family will be greatly prejudiced’. He swore the affidavit before Hellen Kisaka, Commissioner of oaths.
Sitati served his last term as non-Executive Director of KenGen.
In 2021, Mr Sitati and Nduranu were reelected controversially (they did not offer themselves up for reelection after serving 6 years as non-executive board members) after serving the maximum two terms. The new terms were supposed to end in 2024.
Now they have been shown the door.
They both first joined KenGen’s board on December 16, 2015, as non-executive directors for initial three-year terms which were renewed on December 11, 2018, for another three years.
This means that they had exhausted their tenure of six years by the time of the latest AGM based on Mwongozo –the code of corporate governance for State corporations.
“Board members shall hold office for a period not exceeding three years and are eligible for reappointment for one more term not exceeding three years. A board member may be appointed for a cumulative term not exceeding six years,” Mwongozo says of the board members’ term limits.
