Kenya power CEO Joseph Njoroge (top) and Mr. Ben Chumo (bottom)
By Mdadisi Mmoja in Nairobi
A major fight is simmering at the Kenya Power company between employees on one hand and the management over a new kind of high handedness and discrimination attributed to the Chief Manager Human Resources and Administration identified as Mr. Ben Chumo. Those close to the company have hinted that the tension is so high that it could precipitate into a massive go slow, sabotage or even open industrial action if measures are not taken by the board of directors to address the situation. A source also intimated to the weekly vision that a cold war is in fact running between Chumo and a section of the management allied to the managing director Joseph Njoroge whom Chumo is said to look down upon.
The war is said to have started off during the union elections when the Human resource department sought to replace the then union officials led by Mr. Nadome with a more system friendly officials. Chumo is even said to have lined up his own team comprising one Mr Kali, Monica and Njeru to take over as union officials. The bone of contention was a CPA (collective bargaining agreement) the company is said to have been fighting and which had been written in favor of the current union. But things took a turn for the worst for the management when the incumbent team, which is also allied to COTU, swept back into power at an election held at the Tom Mboya labour college in Kisumu. The election has however been contested in court.
A source who talked to us on condition of anonymity said that it is just a matter of time before KPLC employees started a go slow with or without the blessings of their Union, Kenya Electrical traders and Allied Workers Union. Other than poor working conditions for mainly the casual staff who take up more than 50 % of the lower cadres, there have been massive transfers of staff in order to shake off the solidarity that was building among the workers. Very vocal employees are either threatened with sacking or are transferred to remote and distant places in order to disorient them. Union officials are said to have been clandestinely meeting shop stewards of the various branches to chart the way forward. Only last week, senior officials are said to have met at Ruaraka where the Kenya power training school is also situated. Other solidarity meetings are quietly being held across the country in readiness for massive action to force the management to listen and take action. The KETAWU boss Ernest Nadome could however not be reached for comment.
Nairobi alone is said to have close to 7000 workers, up to 5000 of them being casuals working on two to three month contracts to avoid the six moth threshold required by law for permanent employment. The casuals are then made to work without protective gear and on rotational basis with contracts renewed after every expiry. Those who talked to this us have vowed to sabotage the installation of the new power meters among other thing until the board acts on the human resource department.
Those who accuse Chumo of nepotism allege that he uses the trade off system to ensure that he secures employment for people from his Cherengany area without looking like he is filling up Kenya power with his cronies. To this effect, he has teamed up with his equivalents and friends in other sister companies where he takes his people while employing those brought by those friends to cover up his tracks. Focus is on the rural electrification authority where he trades with one Mr Ayieko who accepts Chumo’s people in return for the former having his own employed at KP by Chumo. Chumo is also said to be using his position to secure grounds as he prepares to vie for the Cherangany parliamentary seat currently held by Joshua Kutuny.
While the fire at KPL simmers, the Turgen community has raised the alarm over discriminations in employment at the various geothermal generation projects despite the fact that many of the plants are situated in their territory. The Menengai area known for geothermal spring’s falls within land owned by three people namely Daniel Moi, one Kibowen Komen and the Turgen welfare group.
They now claim that a plot has been hatched by outsider, particularly the Kipsigis and Nandi to lock them out of the top positions especially among the directors. They point fingers at the KenGen human resource director, Beatrice Soi, a Kipsigis who teamed up with Charles Keter (then assistant minister in Energy) to make sure that her kin filled up all the key positions leaving out the Turgens and Keiyos. At the Kenya Rural Electrification Authority is a senior officer, Engineer Esther Ruto, wife of MP Isaac Ruto.
But as this fight over resources persists, questions are now emerging over the ability of William Ruto to unite members of the Kalenjin community if he allows some sections of the community to be marginalized. They complain that even when he had a whole 29 parastatals under him as the ministry of Agriculture, Ruto completely sidelined sections of the Keiyo and Turgen communities.
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