The East African Portland Cement Company is drowning, but its Managing Director Mohamed Osman Adan is living large. Behind the boardroom doors of the Athi River-based cement maker lies a sordid tale of corruption, cronyism, and raw arrogance that has turned a once-proud state corporation into a playground for one man and his cronies.
Adan, who muscled his way into the MD’s office in 2024, is accused of running Portland like a personal shop, dishing out juicy contracts for gypsum and coal to relatives and well-oiled associates while genuine suppliers are shown the door. Sources inside the company say the tender process is nothing short of theatre — documents doctored, requirements twisted, and bidders handpicked. The result? Inflated contracts and fat cheques flowing straight into the pockets of the MD’s inner circle.
As Portland bleeds, Adan’s wealth has exploded. Staff whisper of new multimillion-shilling properties in Karen and Westlands, all registered under fronts and proxies. “Every time there’s a big tender, a new property pops up,” one insider remarked bitterly. The optics are damning: a state firm crumbling while its boss builds a real estate empire brick by brick.
But Adan’s greed is matched only by his ruthlessness. Workers’ unions, once the watchdogs of employees, have been captured and turned into attack dogs. In December 2024, Adan pulled strings to mobilise a staff protest that torpedoed the appointment of Bruno Obodha as MD, ensuring he clung to power. Union leaders who resist his grip are bullied, sidelined, or bought off. “You either play his game or you’re finished,” a former union official told this writer.
And the power games don’t end there. Adan has vowed to frustrate the sale of Holcim Cement’s stake to South Africa’s Kalahari Cement, fearing fresh shareholders would demand answers about his reign. MPs have accused him of secrecy and manipulation, but Adan has brushed them off, hiding behind dusty Articles of Association written in 1933. His critics insist it is nothing more than a desperate ploy to keep his throne.
What makes him so bold? Insiders say Adan openly brags about his “cheap influence” in Parliament and his cosy ties with the security system. It is this web of connections, they claim, that shields him from accountability and emboldens him to rule with impunity.
The tragedy is that East African Portland Cement is not a private venture — it is a public company, majority-owned by the Kenyan government through Treasury and the National Social Security Fund. Every shilling siphoned out of it is taxpayers’ money. Yet while shareholders and employees sink, the MD struts like a king in his empire, daring anyone to challenge him.
EAPC has remained tight-lipped on the scandal, and Adan has ignored calls and messages seeking comment. The silence is deafening.
For a man who should be saving one of Kenya’s oldest cement firms, Mohamed Osman Adan stands accused of grinding it into dust.
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