Professionals challenge firing of Portland directors

By Mutinda Mwanzia

A section of Maasai professionals have given Industrialisation Minister Amason Kingi a seven day ultimatum to rescind the decision to fire the East African Portland Cement Company Managing Director and its board of directors.By Mutinda Mwanzia

The professionals said that they will take legal action against Kingi if he declines to cancel the move to send the MD and the directors packing, terming the decision as ill advised.

The professionals drawn from Narok, Kajiado and Nairobi counties said that the minister was meddling with the affairs of the cement company at the behest of politically connected forces.

"We want to tell Kingi that he must respect the board and that his decision smacks of ministerial impunity," said Joseph Sonkori, the chairman of the professional group.

Last week, Kingi suspended Kephar Tande, the MD and eight members of the board, accusing them of poor governance.

Kingi replaced Tande, who is the seventh managing director at Portland cement in eight years, with Peter Korir, the firm’s head of strategy and performance improvement.

The board led by its chairman, Mark ole Karbolo, has said Kingi was interfering with a company whose operations are outside his realm, citing the decline in government shareholding that has removed the firm from State ownership.

On Thursday, Sonkori who spoke to reporters at a Nairobi hotel said the board of directors and the MD should remain in office.

The suspended directors have moved to court to challenge their removal from the firm in a case filed at the High Court in Nairobi.

High Court Judge, Justice Korir Kipyegon has certified the case as urgent and directed the petitioners to serve the respondents with the suit papers. The hearing date was fixed on January 5.

The directors through the advocate Sean Omondi have argued that Kingi and the PS were illegally and unlawfully interfering in the legitimate management of EAPCC.