Investment banker John Ngumi has resigned as Kenya Airways’ Independent non-executive director, the airline said on Friday.
Ngumi is under probe for allegedly profiteering from the controversial sale of Telkom Kenya.
Kenya Airways board of directors chairman Michael Joseph announced the appointment of James David Kabereri, Mr Ngumi’s replacement, pending an annual general meeting.
“The Board announces the resignation of Mr John Ngumi as an independent non-executive director of the company,” Mr Joseph said in a statement on Friday.
This is Ngumi’s second high-profile resignation after he quit as Safaricom’s board chairman and director in January.
He had served Safaricom for five months only.
Mr Ngumi’s exit comes barely three weeks after rushing to court to bar the anti-graft agency Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) from prosecuting him.
“My departure is motivated by my belief that now the tough work of stabilising KQ is starting to bear fruit, it is the right time for others to come in and build on the transformational platform that the Board and Management of KQ has created,” Mr Ngumi is quoted to have told KQ’s board.
“I remain a firm believer in KQ’s strategic and economic importance to Kenya, and I am confident that before long Kenyans will all recognise that KQ is worthy and deserving of the critical and invaluable support it has received, and continues receiving, from the Government.”
The exit of Mr Ngumi from the national carrier deepens the mystery for the investment banker, who has been on the radar of several anti-graft agencies, his latest appearance in public being before the National Assembly’s Finance and National Planning and the Communication, Innovation and Information committees that are jointly probing the acquisition of Telkom Kenya for Ksh.6.2 billion.
Nevertheless, Mr Ngumi has pushed back the State after rushing to Court where he was granted orders baring his arrest and prosecution, for what he termed in court papers as the State’s resolve to pursue ex-president Uhuru Kenyatta’s cronies.
