A parliamentary committee has ordered an ethnic audit of Kenya Pipeline Corporation staff following fresh claims of favouritism of certain communities.
The Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir-led Public Investments Committee on Friday directed the Auditor General to conduct the audit and report to the committee.
The directive came after it emerged that the newly appointed CEO comes from the same community as the board chairman John Ngumi.
Last month, ex-Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation CEO Macharia Irungu was appointed the new Kenya Pipeline managing director.
Hudson Andambi has been the acting MD since December 2018 following the arrest of Joe Sang and other top managers on allegations of corruption.
PIC members questioned the method used to pick the nominee, reading malice in the process.
Petroleum and Mining Cabinet Secretary John Munyes said Irungu was appointed after he emerged the best among other 88 applicants who were interviewed.
But according to the MPs, the appointment was irregular, with claims that the board imposed the new boss.
“We cannot be preaching inclusivity and busybodies are propagating exclusivity in state-owned agencies,” Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa said.
Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito said the selection had gone against the Kenyan spirit of inclusivity.
Wamalwa had earlier claimed that some of the KPC’s 1600 employees were recruited to their current positions without applying for them.
Kazito urged the committee to block the new MD from assuming office until the matter is concluded.
“For purposes of inclusivity, we cannot have the chair of the board and CEO coming from one community,” Nassir told board chairman Ngumi.
Among the issues PIC wants captured in the special audit include; advertisement of the positions, the number of people who applied and the scores of each of the candidates who attended the interviews.
The ethnic audit will cover the top management, members of the board and other junior employees.
Ngumi was supposed to appear before the committee alongside KPC’s board members but the session was forced to end prematurely after only three showed up.
They did not meet the minimum of six members required to form a quorum.
