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Monday, March 31, 2008

KPLC - Concerns...

KPLC will 'fire' the managers from Manitoba Hydroelectric. They were worth it. Let's take a look at history.

KPLC & its sharehodlers suffered immensely when samuel gichuru was MD coz he spent more time negotiating kickbacks, marrying (or not) 3 wives & making political hay instead of running KPLC.

Manitoba brought professionalism, reduced corruption, improved infrastructure & increased profits. We can now pay KPLC bills at ATMs, Posta Pay (Post Office), by post & banks (Co-op Bank). The customer service is far better & connections are increasing annually.

My fear is that 'political' appointments will be the powers-that be at KPLC and it will be downhill all over again. We saw this happening during dan 'the thief' moi's era. Some of the currently active politicians were 'suppliers' to KPLC. They want back in.

Some will argue that we do not need expats, my argument is that the transition should be 'natural' i.e. someone trains under the expats. The expats' mandate should include succession. Firms like KPLC that have significant government control tend to play to the politicians' & not the shareholders' or customers' tune.


Paying Manitoba KShs 80-100 million over 2 years is a far better deal than the BILLIONS that KPLC will lose going forward.

The need for efficiency, quick decisions & technical knowledge is needed more than ever since Kenya faces an electricity shortfall. Kenya needs to negotiate complex new power agreements immediately & start building interconnections with various countries including Ethiopia.

Corrupt or inept managers will not do. Period.

3 comments:

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brandkemistry said...

well as much as the managers from Manitoba were worth it the 2 previous CEO's right after the Gichuru dud had already done alot of the hard work and restructured the company to being profitable.

I do hear you on the whole political angle and i totally agree that we do need a compitent person as the head rather than just another CEO who gets the job due to thier political clout.

I do want to see a Kenyan in charge of the company...i think we can find a competent person...

coldtusker said...

Bugz - In the current political environment we will end up with a political appointee paid off as a political favour.

Look at steve kalonzo promising julia ojiambo a high-ranking state job. Open bribery!