Omtatah pushes for change in recruitment of parastatal board members
By Mabonga Makhanu, October 14, 2025Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah now wants parastatal heads and board members to be competitively recruited instead of awarding these slots to political cronies.
While speaking during an interview on a local radio station on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, he stated that he has personally challenged this issue in court and established that parastatal officials should be selected through a competitive process, not appointed because they are friends with top political figures in the country.
He expressed his disappointment over how cronies of powerful politicians who have been defeated in various elective seats are rewarded with these positions in parastatals and end up mismanaging once-vibrant state corporations due to their lack of experience and knowledge in running such institutions.
“I personally have litigated in court and got an order saying that boards of parastatals should be competitively recruited. You want to sit on the board of Kenya Wheat it should not be that you supported the president during the elections; therefore, he rewards you with a board appointment. You should do an interview and tell the people interviewing you what your blueprint is if given a chance,” Omtatah stated.
Omtatah now wants the court ruling he personally litigated to be upheld, insisting that those eyeing such positions should undergo intensive interviews to ascertain their suitability to hold such high offices, including explaining their blueprints on how they intend to manage various state corporations.
He gave an example of the Kenya National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) as one corporation that has been mismanaged due to its board being filled with political cronies of those in power.
“But now we take that cereal, Kenya National Cereals and Produce Board. We pack it with a board full of idiots who are basically political failures and hangers-on looking for whatever. We use cronyism to choose the leadership. Then at the end of the day, the cereals board collapses for lack of proper management,” he added.
Privatisation of state corporations
There comes a time when some parastatals are earmarked for privitization.
The national assembly recently passed the privatisation bill, opening the stage for a public hearing on the privatisation of public firms.
Residents of Machakos opposed the privatisation of state corporations before holding the managers who crippled them to account.