Activists want Kenya Maritime Authority board disbanded

Activists outside the Kenya Maritime Authority offices yesterday, where they demanded the removal of all its board members. [Photo: Gideon Maundu/Standard]

A group of activists in Mombasa picketed the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) offices demanding the disbandment of its board.

Genesis for Human Rights Commission Programme Officer Caleb Ngwena, who led the picketers, demanded an investigation of KMA board over alleged corruption, flawed tendering and nepotism in hiring of staff besides gross abuse of public office.

The board was locked in a meeting for most of yesterday and had not issued a statement by yesterday evening.

When The Standard reached Maritime and Shipping Affairs Principal Secretary Nancy Karigithu for a comment on the allegations, she said she was in a meeting, adding that the ministry was waiting for a report.

“The ministry had commissioned an audit after some complaints came to our attention. The audit team left KMA site last week and we are awaiting the report and any issues tberein will be addressed as appropriate,” she said.

Mr Ngwena accused the board of failing to recruit a substantive director general.

They want the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to probe all tenders issued by the board in the last eight months.

Ngwena accused the board of assuming executive duties by spending two days at KMA supervising management, which he said denied managers space and time to carry out their duties. He said the board was yet to replace the corporation secretary after the exit of Margaret Mwangi who was appointed a judge of the High Court.

He accused the board of violating a freeze on new employment issued through a circular from Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and called for an immediate freeze on recruitment for various positions, saying the process would not be carried out competitively.

He claimed there were plans by board members to employ relatives to fill 17 positions including those of coxswains, boat technicians, supervisors and deckhands.

“Already, there are over 10 people who are either daughters, sons, in-laws or relatives to the board members who have strategically been brought in to work as interns or casuals waiting to take up full-time positions,” said Ngwena.

He said that the authority’s recent advertisement for close to 70 senior management and lower-cadre jobs, some of which have been canceled, was proof that the recruitment process was flawed.