National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) Chief Executive Officer MaryJane Mwangi has parted ways with the state corporation.
The NOCK board, in a statement on Wednesday evening, said the CEO has opted not to renew her contract.
“During a board meeting held on October 9 2019, the Chief Executive Officer communicated her decision not to renew her contract. In this regard, the board has accepted her decision,” the Kibuga Kariithi chaired board said.
The board has since “with immediate effect” appointed James Nyamongo to serve as CEO in an acting capacity “pending recruitment of a substantive CEO.”
"The board has thanked Maryjane Mwangi for her over eleven years of distinguished service to the corporation and wishes her the very best in all her future engagements,” the statement read.
Her exit comes at a time when NOCK is still under scrutiny over the recent loss of petroleum products.
In February, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) launched a probe into the alleged theft of Sh100 million of products at the corporation, after nearly 900,000 litres of oil were allegedly stolen.
When she appeared before the National Assembly Energy Committee, the outgoing CEO told MPs at least seven senior managers had been interdicted to pave way for an investigation into the theft.
Those suspended included an accountant, stock analyst, depot analyst, commercial manager and finance manager.
“It is true we lost our product between 2016 and 2018 and investigations are going on,” Mwangi had said.
The corporation has been struggling financially as a result of large sums of money owed by other government institutions, totaling about Sh1.1 billion, which it has exclusive supply arrangements with including fuelling of state vehicles.
Ms Mwangi joined National Oil in 2008 as the sale and marketing manager. She rose through the ranks to become the general manager, downstream operations and later the CEO.
NOCK is a fully intergrated state corporation involved in the petroleum supply chain covering the upstream oil and gas exploration, midstream petroleum infrastructure development and downstream marketing of petroleum products.
It has been spearheading the Mwananchi Gas Project - a subsidised LPG initiative which has failed to take-off.
