Loss-making Posta could tap former UPU boss to fix its woes

By Phyllis Muchoki

Kenya’s loss-making Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) could turn to its first Postmaster general and the immediate former director of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Mr. Bishar Hussein to help fix the organisation’s never-ending woes.

Hussein who left his Director General position at the UPU – a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) which coordinates postal policies among 192 member nations, has revealed that meetings had indeed taken place with the ICT Ministry officials including its CS Joe Mucheru in what insiders believe could see him return to the firm two decades after being kicked out in 2002.

“Two weeks ago I met with ICT officials including CS Joe Mucheru and discussed a lot about this and how we can revamp the organisation based on my vast knowledge in the sector. I am available for whatever support they need from me…it is something that is being discussed at this point,” confirmed Hussein in an exclusive interview last week.

The ongoing talks – whose details are still scanty, may see Hussein – who also served as the Kenyan Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, tapped to lead the organisation, albeit in an advisory position following his stints both at Posta and UPU, and helping the former while on the brinks of collapse in 1999.

He began his career as a management trainee with the Kenya Posts & Telecommunications Corporation in 1984 rising through the ranks to become the first Postmaster General of the Postal Corporation of Kenya in 1999 and leading the entity from a loss-making to a profitable and self-sustaining enterprise.

“I am not in a position to reveal more details from those talks at this point, but when the ministry is ready I will be available to offer my support,” he said.

The revelation comes barely a month after the current Postmaster General Dan Kagwe said in January that the organisation was awaiting the government’s nod to trim its staff and put others on short-term contracts in an attempt to return the wounded lion back to profitability.

“We are awaiting Cabinet Memo approval to proceed with restructuring,” Mr Kagwe was quoted last month, in a painful process that is expected to hurt several of its employees, most of whom are yet to receive January and February wages.

Further, the restricting process could see Posta put its senior managers under three-year renewable contracts – based on their performance, a departure from the current permanent and pensionable terms.

This follows a 2020 Cabinet’s memorandum that had been developed to restructure the Parastatal to transform it to conform to new e-commerce trends.

Through the adoption of e-commerce platforms, Postmaster General of Postal Corporation of Kenya Dan Kagwe said last year that the company would seek to keep loss making branches open, by partnering with the Ministry of Information to implement the National Addressing System and Kenya Transport and Logistics Network to transition into a paperless and cashless agency.

“We have seen our revenues dip, as mail volumes tumbled and private parcel delivery companies ate into our market share. To improve our fortunes, we are now leveraging the advent of digital globalization through modern technologies and strategic partnerships,” Kagwe said in an interview at the time.

Hussein served as Kenya’s first Universal Postal Union Director General between January 2013 and December 2021 and he’s credited for playing a crucial role in 2019 when US President Donald Trump administration at the time had threatened to leave the body, after its members did not change the system of fees that postal services charge for collection and delivery of international mail and small parcels.

He also successfully chaired the UPU Strategy Conference held in Nairobi – a conference that provided a forum for discussion of important global issues affecting the postal sector and paved the way for the development during the 2013 – 2016 Doha World Postal Strategy.