The Coast Development Authority (CDA) Board of Directors and Employees have bade goodbye to the outgoing Managing Director (MD) Dr Mohamed Keinan after an eight-year stint.
CDA Chairman Mzee Mwinyi said the board had since appointed Ms. Pamela Ngure, Director of Corporate Services as the Acting MD till the post if filled competitively.
The Chairman said the position needs a bold, resilient and tough person because it comes with its challenges, especially in decision-making.
He lauded Dr. Keinan’s leadership for transforming and impacting the lives of the employees and the public.
The Chairman urged employees to sensitize coast region leaders and residents about CDA and its impact on their livelihoods.
“All the good projects that have been done, we need them to be visible,” he said, adding that Regional Development Authorities (RDAs) are the implementers of the Bottom up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
The Incoming MD Pamela Ngure promised to build on the success of her predecessor to steer the authority to greater heights.
The Outgoing MD was hailed by staff for awakening the sleeping giant that was on the verge of a total collapse when he took over the reins of power in 2016.
Dr Geoffrey Rono, Manager of the Directorate of Corporate Services described Dr Keinan as a determined, focused, resilient, risk taker and a progressive MD in the history of CDA.
“He Dr Keinan put in place human resource instruments for career progression, a medical cover, and employees are now assured of pension.
The MD single-handedly resolved the pension stalemate and statutory deductions were remitted on time
“If somebody was to leave CDA then, he could not be assured of pension. The pension debt was Sh176m,” said Dr. Rono.
“Today, you’re lucky you can leave CDA and within one month you have your pension dues. It is not easy in the government cycles. If you’re in the mainstream government you’ll spend a fortune to look for your pension,” he added, urging employees not to negate the achievements.
On his part, Dr. Keinan thanked CDA employees for their support during his eight helm at CDA.
In retrospect, Dr Keinan said when he took over the management of CDA he was informed that employees had no salary.
This prompted him to write to the then Treasury Principal Secretary now Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Dr Kamau Thugge. Sh130 was disbursed to settle pensions, Sh120m for PAYE, Sh 6M for NSSF and a salary gap of Sh70M.
“We had a breakthrough,” he recalled. “When I came the staff morale was low. Some were contemplating joining unions.”
To become an MD, he stated, of an institution whose finances have collapsed is one of the hardest things.
Eight years later, he is leaving the authority healthy. Its accounts have close to Sh700M for recurrent and development with zero pending bills.
To achieve progress Dr Keinan advises the incoming Manager to always look for relevant stakeholders, to attract, hire and retain competent team and strategies for resource mobilization.
“Let meritocracy guide this institution. Let the best be given the place on merit. The moment you’re going to introduce some ‘panya movements’ it will not achieve the desired goal,” said Dr. Keinan.
Dr Keinan urged the incoming Manager to make pragmatic decisions by incorporating the opinions of other stakeholders and not to be rigid. “The person taking over needs to ride on the successes that we have achieved,” he said.
He stated the authority has two robust incoming generating projects. A mango processing plant in Tana River and a cottage in Kilifi with the potential to generate Sh 71m and Sh41m respectively in a year.
To maximize the two projects Dr Keinan advised the board and management to lease them to the private sector through the advice of the National Treasury.
By Sadik Hassan
