Joseph K. Koskey doesn’t seem like a solid guy when it comes to what he has accomplished in the past.
For someone pursuing his PhD in Business Administration at the University of Nairobi, he might’ve had his best years behind him.
Koskey is a Daniel Arap Moi’s family insider, a trusted person who sits on the board of most of the former President’s firms.
So, how does he become a DP Ruto man?
After his appointment to the little known Privatization Commission, Koskey whose middle name is Kipketer, colluded with the most powerful Kalenjin at the time to try to privatize the badly managed but god venture, Mumias Sugar Company.
It was only useful, that a Moi confidant, and with Moi powers plying behind the shadows of Kenyatta, Ruto was the man in charge and one to be listened to in Rift Valley.
The deal flopped.
He would be used again to try to rob Kenyans of their only best Airport, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, this time by the Kenyattas through their bank CBA (currently NCBA), but this too run into headwinds.
However, one thing that Joseph Koskey never failed in, is securing the bag.
In the deals, he is alleged to have made good sums of money.
Origins and success
The man who spent a controversial year as the Managing Director of Kenya Bureau of Standards before getting sacked unceremoniously has come a long way.
As head of the Privatization Commission, he hasn’t come empty-handed, It is him that handed the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) to KCB Bank Group.
But in his failures, emerged a dangerous trend.
After the Kenyattas found out that it was hard to rob Kenyans of their parastatals, they devised an easier way that is shocking.
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) has been used to take over public institutions which in the face value, appear as being saved from corruption but in the real sense, they are not.
It is easier to question a civilian government than a military one. That’s why this route has been taken as happened in the case of the Kenya Meat Commission. Glad that the courts declared the move invalid.
Koskey has been the longtime Group chief executive officer of Sovereign Group, a firm associated with the Moi family.
Sovereign Group is described as an investment company with diverse interests in various sectors in Kenya and other regions.
The land which Moi co-owns with his trusted former businessman and Joshua Kulei, a company known as Solio Construction comes to view. The shareholders of Solio Construction are Trade World Kenya Limited and Sian Enterprises Limited.
Under Sian Enterprises Limited, Joseph K Koskey is listed as a director together with Joshua Kulei and Chemusian Company Limited.
Sovereign Group, which is a director of Trade World Kenya, also owns several businesses across several sectors that Mr Moi and Mr Kulei co-own.
In the agribusiness sector, Sovereign owns Sian Roses and Kenya Bixa Limited. It also owns Nakuru’s Merica Hotel, ICT firms Kenyaweb.com and Mobile World, security firm 911, Regent Group East Africa, Afribridge Trade Exports Limited, Siginon Group and mining firm ADIL.
Mr Koskey is also said to have been a managing director position in Urgent Cargo Handling.
He is a well-connected guy whose job now becomes important.
Stint at KeBS
In 2010, former Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey appointed Joseph Koskey the Managing Director of KeBS.
The appointment, according to Mr Kosgey’s accounts was done even though his appointee was not among the top list of three forwarded to him by the Chairman of the Standards Council Karanja Thiong’o, which had interviewed candidates for the job.
The issue angered Thiong’o and the then PS (those days they were called Permanent Secretary Karanja Kibicho who refused to sign the letter of appointment in effect sacking Joseph Koskey.
At the time of his sacking in 2011, Koseky had spent a year at the helm of KeBS, one of the most corrupt govt agencies.
IMF, Loans and default.
Koskey’s appointment to head the Privatization Commission came in October 2018. He replaced a Janerose Omondi who held the position in an acting capacity.
In his appointment, Mr Koskey is charged with spearheading the sale of State-owned enterprises. The agency has which by that time had only managed to conclude a single deal over a decade.
READ MORE
- The myriad problems at Privatization Commission that opened loophole for looting by ED Joseph Koskey – Part 1 of 2
- Whistleblower exposes tender malpractices at Privatization Commission – Part 2 of 2
The parastatals approved for sale as per the business and economic environment at that time were National Bank of Kenya, Consolidated Bank of Kenya, Kenya Meat Commission, Development Bank of Kenya, East African Portland Cement, KenGen, Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya Ports Authority, and five sugar millers Chemilil, Sony, Nzoia, Miwani and Muhoroni.
Others are Agrochemical and Food Corporation, New KCC, Numerical Machining Complex, Kabarnet Hotel, Mt Elgon Lodge Ltd, Golf Hotel Ltd, Sunset Hotel Ltd, Kenya Safari Lodges and Hotels Ltd.
Also on the disposal list are Kenya Tourism Development Corporation-associated companies, which include International Hotels Kenya Ltd, Kenya Hotels Properties Ltd, Mountain Lodge Ltd and Ark Ltd.
In the time of austerity measures following the plunder and looting by Uhuru Kenyatta and Wiliam Ruto, the International Monetary Fund has come knocking on the doors with loans that have strings attached.
This means that most of the quagmire privatization of some of the above-mentioned parastatals will be a thing of the past as the shark that is IMF will take them for a pittance to the deep sea of privatisation.
Kenyans will lose.
With Koskey at the helm, and with the shady opposition in the country, the lack of serious chief justice candidate as seen in the interviews being held currently, privatizing the parastatals will be a walk in the park for those who have been eyeing them.
In the past, it was nearly made easier by the unearthing of corruption cases in them, painting them as inefficient such as been done to the Kenya Meat Commission (and maybe a little bit different the Nairobi County Govt) and then taking them over as a way of saving them from further mismanagement.
There is nothing great the Moi and Kenyatta families have done for Kenya, and in these weird times, and with Koskey, an insider at the helm, the game is cooked against Kenyans.
