Was the the government quick to replace Joe Sang at he troubled Kenya Pipeline Company?
Kenya Pipeline Company MD Joe Sang had on Wednesday submitted a letter to the KPC board saying that he would not be seeking a new term next year, which ends in April.
To fill the void, the Ministry of Mining and Petroleum has appointed an interim managing director Hudson Andambi, to run the scandal-dogged Kenya Pipeline Company as the board sits next week to pick a replacement from the management.
Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau said in a statement Friday that Mr Andambi would only stay for a ‘couple of days’ to fill the void.
Hudson Andambi has been an alternate Director representing the Ministry at the KPC board.
“He is only there to hold until the board meets next week to deliberate on the way forward, may be up to Tuesday or Wednesday and then he will be back to the Ministry. He is someone with a grasp of the place having been an alternate director for the board,” Mr Kamau said.
Mr Andambi is currently the Senior Principal Superintending Geologist and Head of Upstream Petroleum Operations in the Directorate of Petroleum where he also serves as the Deputy to the Secretary, Petroleum.
DCI sleuths arrested Kenya Pipeline Company MD Joe Sang and several top managers on Friday over an alleged corruption scandal. Some of the managers arrested include Company Secretary Gloria Khafafa and the Head of Procurement Vincent Cheruiyot.
The arrests which began early Friday morning come after full-on investigations by DCI over the disappearance of fuel in the Kisumu oil jetty. DCI says the search for other managers is ongoing while those in police custody are being questioned at its headquarters in Kiambu.
In October, DCI boss George Kinoti had summoned Sang, Board Director John Ngumi and five other officials to record statements over the Sh1.8 billion Kisumu oil jetty scandal. The State Corporation has recently also been questioned on the Sh48 billion, 450-kilometre Mombasa-Nairobi line 5 pipeline enhancement project, whose tender was awarded to Lebanese firm Zakheem Limited.
Again in May, detectives from Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission raided the homes and offices of staff of Kenya Pipeline Corporation in a probe into fraud allegations. The officials went to the Nairobi homes of former Managing Director Charles Tanui, General Manager- Finance Samuel Odoyo and Amina Juma of procurement, searching for documents over the alleged fraud in the Sh647 million supply of hydrant pit valves. EACC CEO Halakhe Waqo said the commission was investigating allegations of corruption in the award of the supply of the Hydrant pit valves complete with isolation valves and two year operational spares at Sh647 million.