Ruto: No parastatal board jobs for ex-political office holders within five years

At least 250 board members and chairpersons have been retired from state corporations following the enactment of the Government Owned Enterprises (GOE) Act, 2025.

President William Ruto said the move was necessary to comply with the new law, which seeks to shield commercially run state corporations from political interference and strengthen corporate governance.

The Act bars former holders of political office from serving on boards of government-owned enterprises for at least five years after leaving office.

Ruto assented to the Bill on November 25, 2025, a week after Parliament passed it.

The law also restructures government-owned enterprises engaged in commercial activities into public limited liability companies to improve their commercial viability and governance.

"As a result, boards of commercial enterprises, 66 of them, we have had to retire close to 250 board members so that we can competitively hire professionals to run those parastatals," Ruto said.

The President spoke on Thursday at State House, Nairobi, during the launch of consultations for preparation of Kenya's inaugural State of Openness Report.

He said the changes were intended to free state corporations from political influence and ensure appointments are based on merit.

"We set the benchmark very high, and I must commend Parliament because Parliament passed a law that actually limits the participation of politicians in boards."

Ruto said politically driven appointments had undermined the performance of state corporations for years, making reforms necessary.

He noted that previous attempts to enact similar legislation had failed for more than a decade.

"I remember the first report on government-owned enterprises produced by Abdikadir was done 12 years ago but it was not possible to implement. We tried to take it to Parliament, it became difficult."

The Government Owned Enterprises Act applies to both existing and future government-owned enterprises established as public limited companies under the Companies Act.

It covers 65 existing companies and 18 statutory entities currently undertaking commercial activities, including the Agricultural Finance Corporation, Kenya Airports Authority and the Postal Corporation of Kenya.

Ruto said the government had already begun recruiting professionals to lead the restructured entities.

"Finally, we are now recruiting professionals to run KenGen, Kenya Airports Authority and many other agencies to introduce greater openness, bring more independent people into the management of government resources."

The President added that the Act incorporates provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act to enhance transparency and accountability in the management of public resources.

"That demand is now part of our statute, injecting greater transparency, more openness and greater accountability to the people."

Under the law, every government-owned enterprise will have a nine-member board comprising six independent directors selected through a competitive and transparent process by an independent search and selection panel.

Once appointed, the board members will elect the chairperson from among the independent directors.