Kenyan President appoints new Chairman for GDC

Following local news, it seems like Dr Silas Simiyu, the CEO of Kenya’s Geothermal Development Company has won the battle for the control of the company.

This follows a difficult time in which GDC’s chairman Simon Gicharu and the CEO of GDC Silas Simiyu clashed. The change was announced to the public last Friday, President Uhuru Kenyatta moved Mr Gicharu to the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) in a similar capacity and replaced him with Mr Faisal Abass, the chairman of REA.

The aforementioned reports suggested that Mr Gicharu had been removed in a boardroom coup. Mr Gicharu, the founder of Mt Kenya University, demanded the removal of Mr Simiyu, GDC’s chief executive, accusing him of corruption.

The standoff came barely three months after Mr Gicharu was appointed to head the company on December 27 last year.

This change comes amidst the changes promoted by Mr Kenyatta as policy makers in the Ministry of Energy to fast-track new generation and transmission programmes to cut the cost of power.

Th same news source informs that some 140MW of electricity generated from geothermal power will be commissioned in June and the remainder by September. GDC said it had wells ready for harnessing to generate another 200MW, while a new coal power plant that would generate 960MW at Lamu and the awards for the contract will be done in one month.

“You must ensure the dependency on rainfall for power generation is reduced as much as possible. You must reduce transmission losses,” said the President.