 |
| NYS Director-General Matilda Sakwa |
James Kairu, the man who served as head
of the procurement department at Murang’a County government during the
corruption-ridden first term of governor Mwangi Wa Iria is likely to be charged
in court over a multi-million shillings land scandal that could also see the
governor dragged to court to face the same charges. The governor was impeached
by the county assembly only to be saved by a Senate committee which was later accused by
the public of having been compromised.
The Weekly Vision online has
established that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji is on
the verge of ordering for the arrest of Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria
alongside Mr Kairu who is currently serving as the Chief Procurement Officer at
scandal-ridden National Youth Service (NYS). Apparently, NYS is currently
under investigations by security agencies over suspicious procurement deals
during Kairu’s tenure, notably NYS projects in Tana Delta.
In the latest upcoming arrest and
charging, our team has established, the assets of the duo will likely be frozen
while the governor will be barred from stepping into his office until the case
is heard and determined which would open the door for the County Assembly to
impeach Wa Iria for a second time.
The duo could be charged in connection
to the purchase of 34 acres piece of land in Makuyu at Ksh340 million for the
construction of an industrial park. The land was at the heart of impeachment
allegations levelled against Wa Iria. In their final report, the senate
committee asked the DCI and EACC to conduct an investigation into the allegations
raised by the County Assembly which they said, as at that time, were not
evidential enough to warrant the impeachment of the governor.
The Weekly Vision has reliably learnt
that the purchase of the said 34 acres of land was highly inflated at Ksh10
million per acre, double the then prevailing market rate of Ksh5 million.
According to our sources, the inquest lays the blame squarely on Kairu as head
of procurement at Murang’a County government for committing county funds to
purchase land at a price way above the normal price and thus occasioning the
devolved government to lose millions of shillings.
Some of the proceeds from this
transaction may end up being traced into personal bank accounts as well assets
which they purchased during and after that period. On his part, Kairu who has
made a multi-million fortune through dubious deals as a procurement officer is
currently a subject of investigations by EACC and DCI over his tenure at NYS.
His period at NYS has brought serious
friction within NYS Council (The board of management) that is headed by
Lieutenant-Colonel Njuki Mwaniki, a former KDF second in command.
Interestingly, Kairu was never vetted for his current job at NYS, a fact he has
disclosed braggingly to his drinking buddies with a view to show them how
connected he is. Call it vomiting on the torn shoes of jobless Kenyans. How it
happened only he knows!
At some point, Kairu daringly attempted
to recruit some members of the management council to his side through bribery.
His audacious attempt was when he sent emissaries to Lt-Col Mwaniki and NYS
Director-General Matilda Sakwa with a view to rope them into his scheme of
bribery. The duo rebuffed the approaches and sent the said emissaries to advise
Kairu to stop his shenanigans failure to which he would be sent on compulsory
leave. The duo of Mwaniki and Matilda no longer see eye to eye with Kairu who
is currently an isolated man at the Thika superhighway-based institution.
Madam Matilda is renowned for her above
board and no-nonsense approach style of leadership, a trait she picked while
serving as a provincial administrator rising to the position of County
Commissioner (CC) from where she was plucked by President Uhuru Kenyatta and
appointed NYS DG. While appointing her, Uhuru asked her to deal firmly with
institutionalized corruption at NYS which had felled two (2) previous DGs, a CS
and 2 PSs. We have established that Kairu’s continued stay at NYS has become
more of a liability to the giant parastatal which is at the core of President
Uhuru Kenyatta’s legacy projects and the big-4 agenda.
A Bachelor of Commerce graduate from
University of Nairobi (UoN), Kairu has previously served as procurement boss at
Kenya Prisons, Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development, Ministry of
Culture & Social Services and AG chambers. In all these stations, Kairu
left a trail of controversies, scandals and untold pilferage of tax-payers
money. The Weekly Vision contacted Mr Kairu through a phone call for a comment
on this story, he said that the matter was already in the public domain and
that he had nothing more to add.
|
|
|||||
0 Comments