Isaac Sheunda and lawyer Jackline Omolo.
Isaac Sheunda, has been chosen to act in capacity as the Mumias Sugar Company chief executive until a fit candidate is hired for the position after Patrick Chebosi was sent on a compulsory leave, pushing the sugar miller deeper into crisis.
Confirming the appointment, the company’s board chairman Dr Kennedy Ngumbau said that the board wants to improve service delivery at the company.
This comes as the troubled miller is anticipated to retrench 900 workers in February this year to cut operational costs.
Mr Chebosi had headed the ailing company for only seven months after taking over its leadership on June 2018 from Nashon Aseka.The circumstances leading to his suspension remain unclear, but it’s likely over “doubtful transactions” that appear to have been entered without following proper procedures.
In June 2017, Mr Aseka succeeded Errol Johnson who ran away from the country claiming that his life was in danger.
“We shall re-organize the management structure of Mumias Company following a recent audit carried out. We want to focus in making the company profitable in a period of six months by increasing its efficiency,” said Dr Ngumbau.
Isaac Sheunda is the former chief security officer at the company and was head of agriculture.
The miller, once a giant cane processor, owes about Ksh2.7 billion to cane farmers and other suppliers.
With over 1500 workers, 900 of them will be sent home at a cost of Ksh400 million in order to control its wage bill that is estimated at Ksh40 million a month.
Mumias, which used to be the East African nation’s leading producer at more than 250,000 tonnes a year, has been beset by poor management and mounting losses in recent years.
The company’s board said Aseka’s suspension would pave way for further investigation. It did not say how long the suspension, which takes immediate effect, would last.
“Some doubtful transactions appear to have been entered into without following due process and requisite approvals,” the board said in a statement, without giving details of the transaction.
Aseka said the transactions that the board was questioning were within his mandate as the company’s CEO, without giving details.
Mumias Sugar’s output fell to 15,891 tonnes in the year ended last June from 75,073 tonnes a year earlier, and the miller attributed this to cane shortage and a shutdown of its plant for maintenance.
It reported an annual pretax loss of 9.53 billion shillings ($94.45 million) versus a loss of 6.07 billion a year earlier.