Kenya Ports Authority boss Daniel Manduku resigns

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) chief executive Daniel Manduku (pictured) has resigned.

In a letter adressed to Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, the KPA chief said, "It has been both an honour and a privilege to serve as the Head of this vital installation".

The resignation is effective June 1, 2020. Manduku will be proceeding to terminal leave until then.

It is unclear whether the resignation is linked to the KPA chief's trips to the corridors of justice.

Earlier this month he was arrested and questioned at the Directorate of Criminal investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu Road over graft allegations.

DCI boss George Kinoti said the KPA boss was arrested in a fresh corruption probe and not the ongoing cases against him.

“He has been arrested following ongoing investigations on fresh graft allegations,” said Kinoti.

Manduku, together with KRA Commissioner of Customs and Border Control Kevin Safari and others are alleged to have conspired to gazette the Nairobi Inland Cargo Terminal as KPA facility yet it did not meet the requirements.

They were arraigned to face abuse of office, breach of trust and neglect of official duty charges.

The two were however released after the judge found that no charge had been registered.

When Manduku was arrested alongside Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) ommissioner for Customs Kevin Safari, they were taken to the DCI for processing.

The two, who were picked in Nairobi, were expected to face at least seven charges in relation to allocation of space for cargo from Mombasa at the ICD.

Between March 21 and June 14 last year, Manduku, jointly with others, is said to have connived to gazette Nairobi Inland Cargo Terminal as a KPA peripheral facility. This was allegedly done despite the fact the facility did not meet the requirements for gazzetment. 

Manduku and Safari are also said to have conspired to defeat justice by influencing payment of Sh3.1 million for KPA peripheral facility licence for a company between December 31, 2019 and January 27, 2020.

This was allegedly done to correct illegality of none payment of the same that was already under investigations.

The KPA boss was also accused of abusing his authority by unlawfully recommending to KRA gazettement of Nairobi Inland Cargo Terminal (NICT) as a KPA peripheral facility to a firm that did not tender for provision of container warehouse services in Nairobi.

His woes on March 4 revealed the differences between the Director of Public Prosecutions and his DCI counterpart after they failed to agree on charges against Manduku.

The drama witnessed in a Nairobi court following the arrest and arraignment of Manduku signaled a fallout between DPP Noordin Haji and DCI boss Kinoti, whose initial unity of purpose in the early days of the reinvigorated war on corruption projected a formidable force in the fight against crime.