ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has suspended national broadcaster,KBC acting Managing Director Samuel Maina.Owalo said Samuel Maina should proceed on suspension immediately and disciplinary action should be insitiuted against him
Owalo has appointed Paul Macharia as acting Managing Director, effective immediately.
“I duly appoint Mr. Paul Macharia, who is currently the Communication Economic Expert at the National Communications Secretariat which falls under the mandate of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, as the Acting Managing Director with effect from 19th December 2023 for a period of six (6) months or upon the appointment of a substantive Chief Executive Officer pursuant to section 34 of the Public Service Commission Act, No. 10 of 2017,” Owalo stated.
CS instructed the board to expedite the process of recruitment of a substantive managing director for the corporation.
The letter was copied to the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei and the Principal Secretary, of the State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications Edward Kisiang’ani.
This comes after Maina commited to make a $5 billion (Sh769 billion) payment in the LCIA Arbitration No. 122233: Channel 2 Group Corporation versus Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).
Maina is said to have made the decision without seeking the necessary approvals from key government entities, including the Ministry itself, the National Treasury, and the Office of the Attorney General and Department of Justice.
CS Owalo referred to Maina’s actions as a “total disregard of earlier instructions” given to the national broadcaster,KBC.
