ICT CS  Eliud Owalo in a letter dated December 19, terminated the contract of Samuel Maina as acting Managing Director of Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).

According to the CS, Maina committed the government to pay over Ksh 770 billion in a case versus (KBC) without seeking the Ministry, National Treasury, and the Office of the Attorney General and Department of justice authorization.

Maina who also served as the former Editor-in-Chief, was accused of directing the media house to pay the amount in an arbitration case filed at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA).

“The appointment of Mr. Samuel as acting Managing Director is terminated with immediate effect… Mr. Samuel Maina should proceed on suspension immediately and disciplinary action instituted against him by the board,” Owalo stated.

Owalo proceeded to appoint Paul Macharia, the current Communication Economic Expert at the National Communications Secretariat, which is mandated to the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, as the Acting Managing Director of KBC.

Macharia’s term commences from Tuesday, December 19, for six (6) months. Owalo additionally ordered the KBC board to expedite the process of recruitment of a substantive Managing Director for the corporation.

Maina was appointed as Acting Managing Director (MD) of KBC following the exit of Naim Bilal, who contract expired on March 19, 2022.

“The Board takes this opportunity to thank Dr Naim Bilal for his services at the corporation… all staff members are hereby required to give the acting Managing Director full support and cooperation for effective and efficient delivery of services,” the statement by the board swung Maina into action as the Managing Director.

Kenyans in X (formerly known as Twitter) have erupted in comments criticizing the manager of fraud while some are doubting that.

“Jaba tupu, KBC has a networth of less than 3 billion, sasa 770b waliiba wapi?” a user commented.