Amb John Mwangemi has been appointed the new Kenya Ports Authority managing director.
Mwangemi served as Kenya’s ambassador to Djibouti.
Mwangemi, who has also served as Kenyan ambassador to Rwanda, takes over from Eng Rashid Salim who has been serving in an acting capacity since March 28 last year.
Salim confirmed to the Star that he is proceeding on retirement.
Prior to his appointment last year, Salim had worked at the port as a marine engineer for 38 years.
“Yes, it is now official that I will be proceedings on my retirement. We have a new MD and I have just signed off my documents,” Salim told the Star on the phone.
The announcement about the changes at KPA was made during a meeting on Thursday attended by KPA board members and officials from the Treasury.
The details about Mwangemi’s tenure are yet to be made public.
The KPA board has conducted two interviews for the position of the MD, but Treasury CS Ukur Yatani rejected the names.
In March this year, the KPA board, led by chairperson General (Rtd) Joseph Kibwana, interviewed six candidates and submitted three names to Yatani.
However, Yatani wrote back to Kibwana saying the shortlisted candidates had failed to meet the required threshold to be appointed to the lucrative position.
“I have reviewed the list of the names, scores and ranking of the candidates proposed for the appointment as Managing Director, Kenya Ports Authority, and note that all the candidates scored below the desired threshold of 70 per cent in the interview,” Yatani said then.
He gave the board an additional 45 days to recruit the new boss. The process was yet to be concluded.
Salim took over from Daniel Manduku, who resigned following graft allegations.
Manduku had served as the MD for about two years after taking over from Catherine Mturi-Wairi in 2018.
Mturi-Wairi, the first woman KPA boss, was appointed in 2016 and served until May 2018.
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