Njonjo served CMC for 40 years/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 5 –The long serving CMC Holdings director Charles Njonjo has resigned from the board.
Njonjo, who exits from the board as of June 1 2012, has served the company for the last 40 years.
In a statement, the board describes Njonjo as a selfless individual who offered guidance in his leadership, hence contributing to the growth of the company since he joined CMC on March 28 1972.
“As a respected Kenyan statesman, a visionary and experienced corporate leader, Mr Njonjo has remained a solid voice of reason on the CMCH board, offering guidance and wisdom. His firm stance and guidance on matters touching on corporate governance and HR relations will remain key tenants at CMCH,”read the statement signed by the chairman, Joel Kibe.
However, the former Attorney General exits the company at a time when it is experiencing war within the board, with Capital Markets Authority (CMA) recently indicating that it will bar directors of CMC Holdings found to have violated capital market rules or breached corporate governance regulations.
The boardroom wrangles at CMC started after its former chairman Peter Muthoka was sent home on September 8 2011 after he was accused of breaching corporate governance standards by being head of the auto firm’s boards and a CMC supplier, through Andy Forwarders, a logistics firm, which is the single largest shareholder at CMC with a 24.7 per cent stake.
CMC’s management also accused him of over billing them by up to Sh1.5 billion in a period of five years, prompting the capital markets regulator to stop trading in CMC shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange on the September 17 last year.
The regulator also ordered a forensic audit into the company’s finances which was carried out by South Africa’s Weber Wetzel, which prompted CMA to ask the auto dealer to drop its external auditors, Deloitte, and change its boardroom, a move that led to the removal of Muthoka and Joseph Kivai, a co-director in Andy Forwarders.
CMC Holdings Limited subsidiaries include CMC Motors Group Limited, Cooper Motors Corporation (Tanzania) Limited, All Makes Parts & Accessories Limited and Leyland Motor Corporation (East Africa) Limited.
