Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Managing Director Hillary Wachinga Struggles to Defend Serious Allegations of Irregular Appointments and Discrimination as Staff Complain Over Governance Standards

Shocking revelations have come to light regarding the leadership at Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Limited a once-respected giant in the reinsurance sector founded in 1970 and serving a vast network of companies across numerous countries.

There are allegations swirling that the current Managing Director Hillary Wachinga is notorious for engaging in irregular appointments, age discrimination and questionable financial practices.

A comprehensive email circulating among media outlets outlines instances of improper staff transfers, targeting competent employees and a notable failure to address critical operational challenges that jeopardize the corporation’s mission.

One of the central issues raised is the irregularity surrounding Wachinga’s appointment.

Reports indicate that the decision was made in haste, circumventing a court order that sought to prevent the board from proceeding with the appointment until the case concerning former Managing Director Jadiah Mwarania was resolved.

This not only undermines the rule of law but also raises questions about the board’s adherence to ethical governance practices.

“Dear members of the fourth estate/media fraternity.

As we put this piece down, we are dismayed, disgruntled, and extremely sad by the turn of events. The information we are providing here is factual, and we would be grateful for a very wide circulation with a view to rescuing Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Limited from a downfall.

As you may be aware, Kenya Re is 60% owned by the Government of Kenya and 40% listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange. As commonly referred to as Kenya Re, there has been a series of saddest moments within Kenya Re that has crippled the Corporation. This is happening mainly through actions and decisions that are not in the best interest of the Corporation and its shareholders. The issues are stated as follows:

1. The current managing director was appointed irregularly and hurriedly to defeat the rule of law. There was a court order barring the board not to make the appointment until a case filed by the former Managing Director, Jadiah Mwarania, was heard and determined. The appointment was hurriedly made when the court order had just lapsed, and the lawyers of the petitioner were on their way from court to serve the chairman of the board.
2. During the recruitment process, there was an outright discrimination against interested internal candidates who were not recommended to the board for consideration on grounds of age. Discrimination against age is prohibited under Chapter 7 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, and this must be evoked to give justice to the internal candidates not shortlisted on the basis of age, including GMs namely Ms. Michael Mbeshi, Jaqueline Njui, and Beth Nyaga.
3. Very shameful that the eventual appointee was not on the initial list of shortlisted candidates, and his name was only added after political lobbying, which eventually saw his name forwarded to the directors for the final interviews.
4. When the current Managing Director, Hillary Wachinga, took over, he transferred staff in a manner that was to punish some staff or promote incompetence. One such example was Ms. Sylvia Karimi, the former Assistant Manager Corporate Affairs, who was transferred to the Supply Chain department. The subject lady is a communications and PR specialist and has zero qualifications in supply chain management. This is against the requirements under the relevant procurement laws in Kenya. It is actually against the PPRA Act. We have every reason to suspect that the Managing Director did this intentionally to use the said Ms. Karimi to advance his own interests through her at the Supply Chain department. This action has led to a slowdown in procurement processes since the only legal person who can sign relevant documentation is the manager only.
5. That staff who were extremely competent in their areas of work were transferred to other functions hurriedly, as a way of punishing them. Such examples include Ms. Emily Mbogo, a very competent accountant who was transferred to the Property department as a premises officer from Credit Control. Another example is one Ms. Charity Nkonge, a highly experienced executive assistant, who was unceremoniously moved from the managing director’s office to become a premises officer. In addition, one Ms. Jenifer Sigei, a highly qualified supply chain practitioner, was transferred to the administration department. This was all in a bid to destroy their careers and probably in the hope that they were to get frustrated and hence submit their resignations.
6. Unethically, one Mr. Brian Njoka, a former premises officer, was alleged to be implicated through mischievous assertions that he received kickbacks from a supplier. This was pure malice and led to the young man being depressed and eventually resigning from the Corporation. It is against the public Ethics Act on discrimination, bullying, and also the Constitution of Kenya and the Kenya Re policy on harassment.
7. The Managing Director has become a member of ‘sky team’. He has been on overseas trips nearly 75% of the time per month. This is against the recent government directive that directors and CEOs should not be outside the country for more than 45 days per year. So far, he has exceeded this and he is on a travel spree even where technical officers are expected to attend the conferences or meetings.
8. Painfully, the managing director, Corporation Secretary, and two directors from the head office from Nairobi are directors at Kenya Re subsidiaries located in Ivory Coast, Zambia, and Uganda. Each quarter, they have been traveling for between 6-8 nights in each subsidiary in the name of board meetings, yet it is embezzlement of public funds. Each quarter, the Corporation is spending about Ksh 8 million on per diem allowances for the managing director, corporation secretary, and two directors each appointed from HQ for subsidiaries. This is happening when the subsidiaries are making significant losses and at a time they are required to be recapitalized since they have been making losses. A good example is the Zambia Subsidiary, whose capital is now below the Pension and Investment Authority’s (the regulator) minimum capital requirements. The Corporation is now required to recapitalize. This is very unfortunate and disturbing considering the investment the Corporation has put in virtual meeting platforms including Cisco conferencing as well as Microsoft Teams.
9. There has been an unexplained influx of employed staff on contract and on internship too. These officers are not recruited competitively but rather based on whom you know. It is suspected that one officer, Ms. Maina, deployed at the Internal Audit department, is a relative of the managing director. This is an outright abuse of office and against provisions contained in relevant laws, including the Constitution of Kenya and Public Ethics Officers Act.
10. Shamelessly, the managing director has been abusing staff and managers openly and issuing threats of sacking in every meeting. This is even after he delays in approving claims, which if they are paid, would unlock outstanding premiums from the market. At the moment, many brokers and insurance companies are unhappy because their claims are still pending in the managing director’s inbox for approval. Worse still, he keeps referring claims to risk and compliance, which is significantly slowing our compliance with the service delivery charter. Instead of sitting down to work, he is busy collecting per diem on every international trip that arises. As we write this article, there are many pending claims that he has not approved in the system.
11. The managing director is not only incompetent but also threatens nearly all managerial staff through verbal abuses. Abuses are his order of the day. He is fond of asking staff ‘whom they think he is’ and who he knows in the corridors of political connections. This is indeed sad and unfortunate for a public office of Kenya Re’s stature.
12. The managing director convinced the board to carry out a forensic audit. PWC was hired at a contract value of Kenya Shillings twenty-nine million approximately. They were onboarded with no clear forensic audit deliverable and have been used to harass managers and staff with purported imaging of laptops and interviews. They are literally fishing from everywhere in a desperate move to implicate some staff. As we speak, more than 14 laptops belonging to some select individuals, perceived to be enemies of the system, have been imaged. The process was recklessly and maliciously done, leaving critical functions such as manager finance, manager claims, manager property, and manager legal out of the initial targeted departments, yet they pose the most risk. The process is a pure abuse of public office and must be confronted openly.
13. The managing director has turned Kenya Re into his own kiosk. Even when he travels, he leaves no one in an acting capacity. Any approval being sought must be scanned to him. This has resulted in delays and worsening service delivery. He questions almost every payment, and this has significantly affected service delivery. He simply has trust issues and cannot deliver for a sophisticated organization like Kenya Re.
14. The managing director, working closely with the Manager in charge of human resources, tagged SCAC, the State Corporations Advisory Council, in an illegal process of attempting to restructure Kenya Re and making unpopular proposals to force staff to exit from the corporation through a budgeted send-off budget. This was done illegally through a workshop between staff drawn from the HR department and SCAC, who retreated to Naivasha to draft the illegal proposal. Indeed, instead of engaging departments through a collaborative process, managers were asked to send their departmental key objectives with a timeline of not more than 30 minutes. This again is an abuse of office and does not reflect accountability and transparency as envisioned in the principles of governance and national values. The managing director should be tasked to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken against him.
15. The office of manager life department is yet to be filled despite the appointed consultant undertaking interviews and making recommendations to the board on the top five candidates to be interviewed. The managing director simply and in a very insensitive manner indicated that the list was ‘non-responsive’. This is despite the fact that the consultant was given a clear job description and desired qualifications. Four members of staff at Kenya Re who were shortlisted and were to sit for the final interviews are still tormented and feel discriminated against. The managing director appears to be conflicted and wants to dictate a candidate for each position that falls vacant. Unless immediate action is taken, the Corporation will be adversely impacted on performance.
16.  In a nutshell, this person is not fit to hold public office going by his conduct and how he has treated staff. He must be suspended and an investigation launched on the illegal acts and commissions he has committed and continued to.

Right now, many staff are under depressants because they are harrassed, called names and even belittled in presence of other employees in every meeting.

This has negatively affected staff morale and motivation. Complaints have been shared with the board chairman and IRA but it appears the managing director is ‘untouchable’ since nothing has happened so far.

Please circulate widely for the justice of the staff at Kenya Re.

He was rumoured also to be a very close ally of the embattled DP; that’s why he has been so powerful, intimidating all senior staff and inciting junior staff against their seniors.

He has fired several HODs and replaced them with his cronies. The ones fired include GM Property, Michael Mbeshi; Manager ICT, George Njuguna; Manager Research and Development, Martin Mati (who has an active case that he has sued the company); GM Finance, Jaqueline Njui; Manager Audit, Sammy Kaaria; and Brian Njoka, forced out from being the Assistant Manager Credit Control to a position they termed ‘fancy,’ and eventually they were forced to resign due to financial incompetence.

As we speak, Kenya Re is headed towards ruin.

There has been a mass exodus of competent and qualified staff who have refused to be bullied into submission and are planning to seek alternative employment while others have already left the corporation.

We kindly request you to help us save the institution by giving this matter the attention it requires.

Cases and reports against him have also been forwarded to EACC but he always bribes his way.

He has also pocketed the board who have completely refused to listen to the hueand cry of the staff.

He recently flouted Procurement regulations and processes to send senior staff on a compulsory LDP training at Strathmore where it is believed the company will pay 40million and he is supposed to receive a cut because he is a Lecturer there

He has colluded with a staff called Lucy Kagwiria who had been a staff on the company’s West Africa subsidiary where she is suing the company to pay her 67 million which it is believed they will share. She is currently the closest manager to him yet he has sued the Corporation. She is the most favorite manager and is often assigned all projects and assignments that will generate a loot for the CEO”

The issues surrounding Kenya Re underline a need for an immediate and thorough investigation into the management practices and governance of the corporation.

Stakeholders, including government officials and the public, must advocate for transparency and accountability to restore confidence in this vital institution.