Kenya: The Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development has recommended that the East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) directors be investigated over a chaotic annual general meeting held on 17 December 2013.

Wilson Songa, principal secretary of the Ministry of Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, said that the conduct of EAPCC chairman and board members, including chief executive Kepha Tande and directors Titus Naikuni and Hamish Keith and company secretary J Maonga should be investigated in relation to the AGM.

Songa argued that the AGM should be declared a sham and the company was directed by the CMA not to affect any of the resolutions passed at the meeting. Songa wants the CMA to order EAPCC to reconvene the AGM and an independent person nominated by the capital markets regulator to oversee the meeting. Songa also wants the CMA to confirm that the nomination and election of Didier Tresarrieu as a director was null and void since it was not carried out in accordance with articles of the company.

The current stand-off re-ignites a long-running battle for the control of the cement maker between the government and France's Lafarge. The Treasury holds a 25% stake in EAPCC while NSSF holds 27% shareholding. This gives the government a 52% stake in the company, which has seen it ranked as a state corporation.