Kenya Airways CEO Ngunze to step down
Kenya Airways boss Mbuvi Ngunze is set to step down and exit the troubled airline in the first quarter of 2017.
While accepting Mr Ngunze’s departure, KQ board chairman Michael Joseph said Mr Ngunze, after working for the company for five years, “felt it was a natural point in the company’s evolution to pass on the baton.”
“While I regret this decision, I respect his position. Mbuvi will stay on until a successor is found which is expected to take some months,” said Mr Joseph.
“The selection of the next CEO will be a thoughtful process led by myself together with the board governance and nominations committee, which will focus on producing the right outcomes to lead KQ into its next chapter,” he added in a statement.
NGUNZE’S REPLACEMENT
Mr Joseph, who took over as the board’s chairman on October 26 this year, said the process of picking Mr Ngunze’s replacement will take three months
“During this period, the board chairman and the group managing director and CEO will work with the rest of the KQ senior leadership team to ensure continuity during the transition,” he said.
Shortly after assuming the hot seat at KQ, the former Safaricom chief said that Mr Ngunze was part of his team to turnaround the airline as he rejected demands by pilots to have the CEO exit.
The pilots under their Kenya Airline Pilot Association (Kalpa), in October were pushing for the resignation of Mr Ngunze and former chairman Dennis Awori whom they accused of mismanaging the airline.
