Former Kenya Pipeline Company managing director Joe Sang' has been appointed as acting managing director of the state corporation.
Sang' who was acquitted of graft charges in December, has made a comeback at the strategic state corporation.
The KPC board on Tuesday appointed Sang' and he is just a heartbeat from being confirmed in the coming weeks.
Sang' will take over from Macharia Irungu whose contract the board declined to renew last week, ending his three-year tenure at the state corporation.
Irungu took over at the helm of KPC in 2020, replacing Hudson Andambi who had served as the acting MD since December 2018, following Sang's arrest over graft allegations.
Sang' and other senior managers of KPC were arrested and charged with implementing the Kisumu oil jetty project, which cost taxpayers an alleged loss of Sh1.9 billion.
The board, in a letter to Irungu, said the three-year contract that he signed on December 2, 2019 had been terminated because he did not express interest in extending or renewing it.
“There was no expression of interest on your part to have the contract extended or renewed despite an invitation by the board to do so, vide the letter dated December 9, 2022, written to you by the board chairperson.
"Your term lapsed on January 1, 2023 and you are no longer an employee of Kenya Pipeline Company,” a letter dated January 13 read.
“Joe Sang' has taken over at Kenya Pipeline Company as the managing director,” a source at the board said.
“The board is ready to accord him the necessary support he needs to push the KPC back to the good golden days, when the financial performance of the company was at its highest peak ever and staff morale at its best.”
Sang' holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Nairobi and is a certified public accountant with extensive international training in governance and leadership in energy, among others.
He had previously worked at the National Oil, Unga Feeds and the East African Breweries.
During his two-and-half year stint at KPC, Sang' is credited with managing the debt portfolio resulting in a reduction of contingent liabilities from Sh17 billion to Sh4 billion.
The company's profitability also increased year on year to Sh12.5 billion in 2018, the highest ever in the firm's history.
Other than delivering on key projects such as the completion of Line 5 of the Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline, which was at 11 per cent when he took over, Sang' also managed to complete Line 6 from Sindendet to Kisumu.
President Willian Ruto had recently made changes to the KPC board, naming Faith Bett Boinnett as the new chairperson.
