KRC quietly hands Mainga a second term

The Board of Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) quietly extended the term of managing director Philip Mainga, handing him a second three-year term before the end of the Jubilee administration.

The extension will see Mr Mainga serve at the state corporation currently charged with effective management of the standard gauge railways (SGR) trains among other functions until 2026.

Mr Mainga took over the job substantively in January 2020.

Before then, he was the acting boss at the state corporation after the suspension of the former boss Atanas Maina in August 2018 on corruption allegations.

“The board of Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) extended his term by three more years,” a top source who sits on the board told the Business Daily in confidence.

Mr Mainga was the business research and general manager at KRC before he took up the position of managing director in an acting capacity in 2018.

He has 19 years of experience with expertise in a wide range of fields including corporate planning, project management and business management.

He holds a master’s degree in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi, a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Mysore and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Mysore.

His term has been extended by the board at a time the corporation has been working tirelessly to enhance services on the Madaraka Express train that ferries passengers between Nairobi and the coastal town of Mombasa.

The corporation has also been aggressively extending the railway network across the country and introducing new commuter train services that ply routes such as Nairobi-Nanyuki and Nairobi-Kisumu.

Some of the big projects lined up for his supervision will include the extended standard gauge railway that the state plans to build from Mai Mahiu to Malaba.

The five-year plan will see the multi-billion railway line pass through Narok, Bomet, Nyamira, Kisumu and Malaba.

The government is keen to revamp railways lines across the country, as their use is cheaper and safer in the transportation of goods.

Transport Cabinet secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said last month that there is a need for a modern railway to be moved from a ‘forest’ to connect the busy Nakuru city.

“There is no need for the railway to be taken to the bush. We will take it to the city of Nakuru, Eldoret and then to Kisumu and thereafter connect it to Uganda,” he said then.