Procurement lobby petitions KEMSA over sackings

Kenya Power has suspended 59 employees. [File, Standard]

A body tasked with registering, licensing and regulating the practice of all supplies practitioners in Kenya has defended their members who risk being sacked at Kenya Medical Supplies Authority.

The Kenya Institute of Supplies Management has also raised concerns over some 59 employees who were suspended at Kenya Power saying they had been sidelined in decision making.

The Institute’s chairman John Karani says that about 100 of its members are among the affected employees and is petitioning the KEMSA board to engage all stakeholders.

“As the umbrella body for Supplies Practitioners with statutory powers, KISM welcomes efforts to transform KEMSA into an effective public body” said Karani

“We are the custodians and regulators of Supply Chain Management practitioners and are at hand to provide the necessary technical support towards transforming KEMSA”

As the regulator of supply chain management profession in Kenya, Karani said that all the staff sent home from warehouses and the procurement departments were their members.

“We would also like to know the criteria used to decide who leaves and who remains at the institution and advocate for a systematic, structured, transparent and equitable process” he said.

The council said it would be important to ensure rigorous efforts in building SCM capacity and capability to implement these reforms, both at the Staff and Board levels. 

On suspended Kenya Power staff council member Moses Omondi said the council has been shocked by the announcement released jointly by the Kenya Power Chairman and Board of Directors on the suspension of 59 Supply Chain Management staff.

He said this implies that Supply Chain Management team is at the centre of the well-documented management and leadership challenges facing the power company.

“The selective profiling of the 59 employees further suggests that they are solely responsible for all the operational and financial problems faced by KPLC,” said Otieno

He explained that the move will not only ruin the reputation of the victims but will also have the ill-fated effect of diverting attention from the real cause of the institutional problems.

Otieno reiterated that Kenya Institute of Supplies Management supports recommendations to clean up the rot at the power company but condemns deliberate effort to profile, castigate and unfairly target their members.