A major restructuring is underway in state corporations after about 250 board members serving in 66 government-owned enterprises were retired following the implementation of the Government-Owned Enterprises (GoE) Act.
President William Ruto announced the changes on Thursday, July 16, during the launch of consultations on Kenya’s first State of Openness Report in Nairobi. He said the move is aimed at creating room for the competitive recruitment of professionals to lead key state corporations and improve the management of public institutions.
According to the President, the new law has already brought significant changes to the governance of commercial state corporations. He explained that the boards of 66 state-owned enterprises have been reconstituted to allow qualified professionals to be selected through a competitive process.
“Finally last year, we managed to pass the law on government enterprises and as a result, boards of commercial enterprises, 66 of them, have had to retire close to 250 board members so that we can competitively hire professionals,” Ruto said.
The President praised Parliament for passing the law, noting that it had helped reduce political influence in the management of state corporations.
He said one of the key provisions of the Act prevents politicians from serving on parastatal boards until five years after leaving public office.
“The GoE Bill that I passed into law now says that if you have been in a political office, you cannot serve on parastatal boards for at least five years,” he added.
Ruto said the government had already started recruiting professionals to lead strategic institutions, including Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), and other agencies. He expressed confidence that the appointments would improve transparency, accountability, and efficiency in public institutions.
“But finally we are now recruiting professionals to run KenGen, KAA and many other agencies to introduce openness and bring more independent people to the management of government institutions,” he said.
The President also pointed to reforms introduced through the recently enacted Conflict of Interest law.
He said the legislation strengthens accountability by increasing scrutiny of transactions involving public officials and setting higher transparency standards for those in positions of power.
During the event, Ruto further directed all government institutions that have not yet adopted the eCitizen single pay collection system to comply, saying the platform is important in improving transparency and accountability in public service delivery.
