Power games are being played out at Kenya Seed Company with directors pitting private shareholders representing the 47.1pc stake in the 44-year-old entity with those held by the government who are the majority. The private directors recently plotted amajor management coup that ended up flopping. The private shareholders want to hijack the management of the firm from the state. At the centre of the storm are the succession wars surrounding the current MD Azariah Soi. Surprisingly, majority of the directors both on the private wing and public want Soi contract renewed by then Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri.
However, a faction led by ex –CEO Nathaniel Tum is opposed for own personnal goals. Tum and his group are associated to the run down of KSC during the Moi era until retired president Mwai Kibaki came to its rescue.
The government has control majority shares of 52.8pc through the Agricultural Development Corporation. Nathan Anaswa former MP for then larger Lurambi constituency in Kakamega county is the board chairman. Anaswa has no time for Tum who he accuses of dropping the name of Daniel Moi forgetting he was buried months back at his Kabarak home. Tum wants Anaswa removed as the chair, a move that is opposed by many seed farmers and directors. Recently, tempers flared after the Tum led faction out of the blue called for an AGM. Tum has the backing of MD for the Kenya Farmers Association KFA Symon Cherogony.
They planned to convene for the 50th AGM on April 3, 2020 at the firm’s Mbegu Plaza in Kitale to enable the company pay out its dividends and elect directors for the company’s board. Tum also brought on his side directors, Paul Kandie, J Otieno, Charles Ndegwa and Soet (K) Ltd. The planned April 3 2020 AGM had been occasioned after two earlier ones of June 22 2015 was postponed to September 28 2016 and the final one of December 18 2018 being cancelled because of the inclusion in latter of the disputed 2001 shareholding against KSC by ADC whose case No HCCC 575 is pending. Another attempt to have the AGM on January 21 2020 did not take place because KSC did not receive approval from the ministry.
The organisers of the AGM to avoid humiliation decided to hold the meeting through video link as recommended by the recent circular from the public service No OP/ CAB.9/1A of April 3 2020 and another one of March from Mwongozo No OP/CAB.9/A dated March 11 2020. To show the Tum faction move was illegal, Trans Nzoia county commissioner Sam Ojwang’ wrote a letter to the seed company against allowing the meeting to go on in the midst of the Covid-19 disease.
However to the surprise of many, Tum faction ratified the payment of the remunerations of directors to the tune of Sh0.5 million per year and the re-election of Lawrence Njiru and William Kundu. ADC through its board chairman, Benjamin Cheboi, in his letter of April 1, 2020 to the KSC MD Soi after being advised by Munya to deal directly with KSC as an independent and autonomous institution had thrown support for the conveners of the meeting arguing that the forum would give the opportunity to demand for their dividends amounting to Sh199 million.
In the letter that was copied CS Munya, and his Treasury counterpart Ukur Yattani and the principal secretary of the state department of Crop Development Hamadi Boga, the ADC chairman had indicated that the corporation would send four delegates to the AGM, amongst them, himself, the Acting MD Mohammed Bulle and a director Peter Chemuigut. Weekly Citizen has information,the move has split the ADC board with Cheboi accussed of playing politicswith the Parastatal to help his cronies.
The video link AGM that has been dismissed by stakeholders was attended by immediate chairman of the scrapped Strategic Food Fund Noah Wekesa who personally attended it as a shareholder. This time round, the court case pitting ADC against KSC was put at bay as it would have amounted to subjudice. To woodwink the public, private shareholders together with the ADC resolved immediate gazettment of the new board to avoid a lacuna that could cast the seed industry into the danger of Kenyans missing seed products. They ousted the current board under the chairmanship of Anaswa
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