The board of directors of the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has appointed Abraham Serem as the firm’s acting Managing Director following the exit of Rebecca Miano who took up an appointment as Cabinet Secretary for East Africa Community and Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Regional Development.
KenGen chairman Samson Mwathethe said Mr Serem’s appointment took effect yesterday (Friday) and he will hold the position until a substantive CEO is picked through a competitive process.
The acting KenGen boss has been the General Manager, Human Resources and Administration at the power firm since March 2016.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nairobi, a higher national Diploma in Human Resource Management, and a Diploma in Intermediate Executive Coaching from the Academy of Executive Coaching. He is a member of the Institute of Human Resource Management, Kenya.
Before joining KenGen, Mr Serem worked at Heineken East Africa Ltd where he held the position of Director, East Africa Breweries Ltd, Nampak East Africa, and Reckitt Benckiser East Africa, where he held various senior managerial positions.
He joined KenGen management team on March 1, 2016, as the Human Resource and Administration Director.
KenGen has been among the top-performing government agencies earning huge revenues due to its heavy investments in and outside the country.
In the financial year to June 2021, KenGen’s revenues rose from Sh44.1 billion to Sh45.9 billion, though its profits dropped from Sh18.37 billion to Sh1.18 billion based on returned taxes following a tax reduction during the covid-19 year in 2020.
The agency has been on the road to commission different projects in the country, with the latest being the two geothermal power plants launched by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in July, Olkaria v Units 1 and 2, and the 83.3MW Olkaria I Additional Unit (AU) 6, both injecting an additional 86MW into the national grid.
In April last year, the agency also completed the drilling of seven geothermal wells in Ethiopia, after clinching a Sh7.6 billion to supply geothermal drilling services to State-owned Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) company in 2019, together with Shandong Kerui Petroleum Equipment Company and Shandong Kerui Oilfield Service Group. BY DAILY NATION