Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum Charles Keter has blacklisted 350 companies from operating in Kenya and fired at least 18 employees of Kenya Power after an audit revealed that the employees had orchestrated a corrupt tendering process.
Keter is coming down hard after the audit, saying the companies will never do business in Kenya again. The companies awarded contracts had direct links with the employees fired, such as being owned by children and spouses of the Kenya Power employees.
“Any contractor out of those contractors, is it 300 and something? They will never do any business in the Government of Kenya, not only the Ministry of Energy,” Keter said at a press conference according to Business Daily. ““We need to circulate that list to other departments. If they are dealing with roads, if they are dealing with REA (Rural Electrification Authority), and the REA people are here, if those contractors are also in your list, we have to remove them like yesterday.”
Kenya Power Managing Director Dr. Ken Tarus has said that no money was lost, but the awarding of contracts for labor and transport violated the company’s Code of Ethics.
The company is also overhauling its operational structure, according to The Citizen, planning to place staff under a performance contracting system to increase efficiencies.
“The most important thing is to know that an individual has a term limit and this three-year term limit will be subject to perforce appraisal so that people become much more responsive to what their job entails,” said Kenya Power Chairman Mahboub Maalim, according to The Citizen.
Kenya Power has been lauded in the past for its quick and efficient drive to bring power to the country. So far, the company is on track to bring universal power access to Kenya by 2020 — a feat not yet accomplished in all of East Africa.