Fresh leadership wrangles rock Rift Valley giant water firm
Hosea Wendot and Samuel Kipampi Oruma.
Fresh leadership and boardroom wars have erupted at the Central Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency (CRVWWDA), which now threaten to derail activities at the giant water firm.
At the centre of the storm is the February 15 court ruling that reinstated former chief executive officer Hosea Wendot.
The court ruling has ignited fresh wrangles over the leadership of the giant water firm pitting Engineer Wendot and current CEO Samuel Kipampi Oruma.
Ruling
In last Wednesday’s court ruling, the High Court sitting in Nakuru temporarily reinstated the sacked CEO, after two years in the cold.
Justice Hilary Chemitei termed Engineer Wendot’s dismissal by the board as “unlawful”.
“A temporary order is hereby issued directing the immediate reinstatement of the petitioner (Wendot) to his post as the Central Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency (CRVWWDA) Chief Executive Office, with all privileges including allowances and salary attached to his office,” reads the judgment.
“Pending the hearing and determination of the main petition, this court hereby suspends and stays the implementation of the decision of the board of management of the Central Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency dated April 30, 2021. Engineer Hosea Wendot shall therefore remain in office as the CEO. The board of management’s decision is hereby frozen.”
The court further restrained members of the board of management of the water firm from taking any allowances, per diems and drawings from Wendot’s bank accounts.
He was the CEO until April 2021 when his first term ended and the board declined to renew his contract for a second term.
Justice Chemitei noted that the special board meeting that fired Engineer Wendot on April 30, 2021 was illegally constituted.
Following his reinstatement, last week Engineer Wendot visited the agency in an attempt to take over office.
Standoff
On Friday, there was a standoff at the water firm that forced the former and current CEOs to hold a crisis closed door meeting with their lawyers and selected staff of the agency.
After the meeting, the two left the CEO’s office in a huff with both claiming to be in charge.
“On Wednesday the court reinstated me as the CEO, so I came to the agency to report and to brief the staff who were there that I am back,” Mr Wendot said after the crisis meeting.
“I am back as the CEO because this is a court order, we are in the process of implementing the order. It is not a must that I should sit in this office; the government will decide. But justice has been done and the court has pronounced itself on that.”
Mr Oruma, however, insists that he is still CEO.
“I am still in office. We are in a state of quagmire as the order did not mention the current serving CEO (Oruma) or revocation of the same, so I’m not in any way in breach of any law being in office,” he stated.
Mr Oruma maintains that Mr Wendot’s contract ended in April 2021 and nobody hounded him out of office.
“After his contract came to an end in April 2021, l was competitively recruited as CEO and the board picked me as the most suitable among many. Mr Wendot’s term was not renewed,” he said.
“The ministry will handle the matter, because the Cabinet Secretary is aware. Mr Wendot must follow the law and not just storm the office claiming to be the CEO. Who recruited him? Does the board know about his existence?”
In what could further escalate the leadership wrangles, Mr Oruma has written to Chief Justice Martha Koome seeking her urgent intervention and review of the court order which he says is biased and driven by malice.
Dispute
In the letter, which was seen by Nation.Africa, Mr Oruma argues that Justice Chemitei irregularly issued the orders, even though the court has no jurisdiction to hear matters concerning employment.
“The judge has acted without jurisdiction in issuance of the orders. The matters in the issue touch on employment and as such the court with jurisdiction to deal with the matter is the Employment and Labour Relations Court as established in Article 162 (2) (a) of the Constitution,” the letter states.
Mr Oruma also accuses the judge of issuing final orders without hearing both parties, thus condemning the respondents (Mr Oruma and the water firm) unheard.
“The first problem with the actions of the judge is that he failed to act judiciously. Secondly, the judge condemned the respondents unheard contrary to the well-known principles of natural justice. In this sense, l have been essentially 'removed' from office by the judge without being heard and most importantly without my contract being legally terminated,” argues Mr Oruma.
He says the judge’s ruling was biased as Mr Wendot’s term had expired and his terminal dues were fully paid.
Mr Oruma now wants CJ Koome to urgently call for the file for perusal and issue an order that the matter be handled by another judge as a matter of urgency and in the presence of all parties.
“The judge's actions amount to gross misconduct and/or incompetence. I am apprehensive that I might not be accorded real justice in the matter if the files are to remain before the same judge,” the letter states.
So bad are the fresh wrangles that employees of the water body have been roped in, with sources saying most workers have taken sides on the matter.
“One faction has sided with the current CEO Mr Oruma and the other with the former water firm’s boss,” an employee at the water firm told Nation.Africa.
At the weekend, it had emerged that the majority of the employees in the water agency are disgruntled by the fresh infighting, and some have vowed to protest the move to sack the current CEO Mr Oruma.
“We are not happy with the manner in which some powerful officials want to micromanage the Central Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency. It will not be business as usual; we will protest any move to oust the current CEO Mr Oruma,” said an employee who sought anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The infighting now threatens to disrupt activities of the water firm, which is supervising the implementation of multi-billion-shilling projects in the South Rift region, such as the Sh38 billion Itare dam project and the Sh5.5 billion Chemususu dam.
Last week, President William Ruto said that the construction of the stalled dam would be revived.
The Nation has also learnt that the boardroom wars have also sucked in some senior officials in the Water ministry as well as senior politicians in the Kenya Kwanza administration said to be keen to control activities of the giant water firm.
Boardroom wars
In April 2021 vicious boardroom wars broke out at the giant Rift Valley water firm, following which Engineer Wendot and two directors left the firm.
At the centre of the storm was the renewal of Engineer Wendot’s tenure in office, which had lapsed.
A special board meeting resolved to terminate Eng Wendot’s three-year tenure at the helm of the water firm.
The meeting was chaired by the water secretary, deployed from Maji House.
Board chairman Ambassador Boniface Muhia, in a letter sent to the CEO, said the board declined to renew his request for a second term.
Soon after, boardroom wars erupted that also roped in some senior Ministry of Water officials.
So bad was the in-fighting that it claimed two board directors as casualties.
The two board directors, Francisca Kamuren and Johnson Mwamba Kinyanjui, were shown the door by the then Water Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki.
The CRVWWDA was formed after the Rift Valley Water Services Board was disbanded.
The CRVWWDA and the North Rift Water Works Development Agency were both created from the former Rift Valley Water Services Board.
The CRVWWDA covers Nakuru, Baringo, Narok, Laikipia and Nyandarua counties.
