A Labour Court has suspended the appointment of Joe Sang as the acting Managing Director of Kenya Pipeline Company.
This follows a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).
Employment and labour relations judge James Rika certified the matter as urgent and stated that the suspension will remain in place until the matter filed by LSK is determined.
"Pending hearing and determination of the application inter parties, KPC is at liberty to appoint an acting managing director from amongst the current pool of employees holding substantive management positions with KPC," the judge said.
The Corporation's board, KPC CS energy, AG and public service commission were directed to file their responses ahead of the mentioned date slated for March 10.
KPC board on January 23 announced the appointment of Sang as Acting Manager of KPC.
The appointment was to take effect immediately after the term of the former MD expired on January 1.
But LSK moved to court and managed to convince the Judge why orders suspending the appointment should be in place.
LSK argued that Sang does not hold any position within the organization having resigned from his position as the MD in 2018 following corruption allegations.
LSK said he was no longer part of the company for the last five years and on that strength, he cannot be appointed in an acting capacity.
Sang was charged but was acquitted in 2022.
LSK says his appointment was not subjected to a fair competitive process. there was no advertisement for the said position.
According to the court documents, the office of the Managing Director of KPC is a critical office in the running and management of the affairs of KPC.
It is also key in the maintenance of the refined oil pipeline that consists of a network of over 1, 792 Km of pipelines running from Mombasa through Nairobi to the Western Kenya towns of Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu.
The documents indicate that the person holding this position coordinates 8 different directorates and over 20 different departments of the organization and as such requires that the appointment of such an individual is not tainted with any questions of legality and procedural defects, such as that of Sang.
