For close to one year Directorate of Criminal investigations (DCI) detectives have been hot on trail of well closeted city gang linked to a sophisticated car theft in the country. So good is the gang that they were hiding in plain sight and masking their dark secrets.
At the center of this is one Julius Osoro Nyagoi who detectives believe has been coordinating car theft across the country while residing in Nairobi’s high places enjoying the evil proceedings from his foot soldiers.
He eventually ran out of luck when on Wednesday when detectives drawn from DCI HQS, Starehe and Athi River joined forces in a sting operation, successfully pounced on the 39-year-old Osoro at Nairobi’s Kilimani area.
After interrogation, he led the detectives to his homestead at Green Park Estate in Athi River, a posh estate in the outskirts of Machakos County. In his house no. 641, two of his accomplices; John Michael Muturi, 38 and Charity Njeri Kimani aged 34 were also arrested, before a thorough search was conducted in which police recovered suspected stolen items.
These included a Czeska pistol loaded with 7 rounds of ammunition, two pairs of motor vehicle number plates bearing Reg. Nos. KBB 027Z and KDE 399Q, assorted motor vehicle parts, several sim cards, mobile phones, two laptops, an iPad, logbooks for KCE 135W and KCQ 381A, wrist watches and ATM cards.
Also found at the parking lot were motor vehicles Reg Nos. KDC 019P Mazda Bongo, KCE 135W Toyota Noah, KCB 790B Toyota Mark X and KDE 459A Toyota Fielder, all of which were impounded by the police.
Links to other crimes
In May 2023, the DCI arrested two men in Kitengela whom they believed were behind to be part of a major car theft racket in the area.
A police report says undercover sleuths stormed into a garage within the Jua kali grounds, near Kitengela Police Station, after they were tipped off by an informer. Three stolen vehicles were recovered, two new Toyata Axios, registrations KDL 773T and KDK 792R were found, both of them undergoing modification.
It is the garage owner who led the detective Osoro the prime suspect, whom they found on Mombasa Road, driving the third vehicle, a Toyota Probox, registration KDD 363L.
Assorted number plates were also recovered and a sophisticated gadget used to demobilise all the security features in a vehicle.
Police suspected that the vehicles were stolen from different parts of the country. Once modified, their security features destroyed and their bodies repainted, they are sold to unsuspecting buyers.
The two were released on bond. Osoro would later again be linked to another robbery of Sh10 million from a Chinese businessman in Kilimani, he was again released on bail.
The three suspects will be arraigned today Thursday, April 11, 2024.
The exoneration of Joseph Mwenda Munoru, popularly known as Dj Joe Mfalme and six others in the murder of Felix Kelian Kintosi, a DCI officer attached to the Dagoretti Directorate of Criminal Investigation office and pinning Allan Ochieng, alias Hype Balo as the main suspect has been received with mixed reactions. The suspect’s lawyer has termed it a sham.
While it came as a relief to the freed suspects, it has raised many questions as to how the ODPP had narrowed down to one suspect from the six who had been alleged to have assaulted the deceased officer leading to his death from the complications.
The prosecution, led by PC. Michael Mutune stated that the investigations by the DCI when the seven were held in custody for 14 days were concluded and there was no enough evidence to charge Joseph Mwenda Munoru, Eric Kariuki Gathua, Simon Wambugu Wanjiru, Khadija Abdi Wako, Sammy Cheruyot Rotich and Agnes Kerubo Mogoi.
We’re unlikely to get justice
Speaking outside Kibera Law Courts on Monday, a representative of the family Jacqueline Koin, they expressed their disappointment with the DPP decision of freeing the co-suspects and turning them into state witnesses. She revealed that they had as a family spoke to Kelian hours before he died and he allegedly informed them he was beaten by more than one person.
“It’s important for people to know that our Felix didn’t die immediately, he was taken to the cell after being beaten and released to the hospital the next day. We spoke to him and we know for a fact because he talked to us that he was beaten by more than one person.” The representative said.
In her explanation, she claims the suspected officers didn’t assault the deceased but were present and witnessed the ordeal, “the person they’re saying is the main witness is only a worker of one of those freed,” she further claims that there’s a coverup, “there seem to be a lot being hidden, the officers were there and witnessed him being beaten, justice should be seen to be served by the court and ensure everyone involved in the death of our kin is brought to book. But from what we’ve seen, we’re unlikely to get justice.” She concluded.
The late police inspector Felix Kelian Kitosi.
This is a sham
Speaking on the matter, Hype Ballo’s lawyer, Otiende Omondi termed the DPP’s decision to freeing the six suspects and pinning his client as a sham, he alleges an elaborate conspiracy against Allan that was initiated onset to characterize Ballo as violent by mentioning him as a bouncer to DJ Joe Mfalme as opposed to him being his Hype man, “what has happened here in the court is a sham, there has been a social media campaign raised by the other respondents and the police at large. We raised the issue on 25th March when we had realized they characterized Ballo as a bouncer and not Hype Man, at that point they had skewed the investigations.” The lawyer said.
“Criminal Justice doesn’t begin in court. Many only come to court to cleanse those who’re culpable,” he said in disapproval of the acquittal.
“You’re being treated to a sham, you’re unlikely to get justice,” the lawyer said in address to the family of the deceased, “those who’re supposed to help the family get justice have already been released and turned into state witnesses.”
He further alleges that Ballo has been singled out because he’s poor, “Allan has been charged because of poverty, he comes from Kibera(slum), it mean if you don’t have money in this country, even investigations don’t stand with you.” Lawyer Otiende slammed.
Mfalme, speaking after the decision, expressed his relief, stating, “I am grateful for the outcome and for the faith that justice has been served. This has been a challenging time for all of us, and I appreciate the support we have received.”
What being turned into a state witness means
Being turned into a state witness means that DJ Joe Mfalme has now been cleared of any involvement in the murder of the police inspector and will now appear before the court as a prosecution witness and will testify against Allan Ochieng his former employer who worked for him as a master of ceremony.
What happened
DJ Joe Mfalme and his team last month on March 16 were performing at a busy club on Thika Road when they were picked up at night by police officers.
An altercation erupted after Kitosi’s vehicle scratched a car belonging to the DJ as he was leaving the car park.
The team then confronted the police officer, pulled him out of the car and allegedly assaulted him with kicks and punches.
They claim the officer was later taken to Kikuyu Police Station where he was assaulted by police officers while in custody.
His health deteriorated and he was rushed to Lang’ata Hospital before being transferred to Nairobi West Hospital where he died.
Who is Hype Ballo?
Allan Ochieng has been serving as DJ Joe’s official master of ceremony and he would travel with him everywhere to all his parties that he hosted. He also doubled up as a radio presenter for NRG Radio.
Ballo and Joe surrounded by beauties during the good times.
Ochieng will be arraigned before the Kiambu High Court on a charge of murder contrary to Section 203 read with Section 204 of the Penal Code.
According to reports by British media, senior British soldiers have been accused of initiating new recruits deployed at the Nanyuki military base in Kenya into having unprotected sex with prostitutes as part of hazing, thus exposing them to sexually transmitted infections.
The new recruits are reportedly subjected to an initiation process where they must decide whether to use a condom or not by flipping a coin.
‘The more senior soldiers would flip a coin – heads you could use a condom, tails you could not,” the report detailed, citing findings from the British Medical Journal Military Health.
The report also said that while sexual health guidance is provided on arrival in the East African country, the number of soldiers seeking help for co-morbidities has increased compared to UK-based troops.
The report warned of a growing use of prostitutes close to the British base in Nanyuki, Kenya, with some services even offered at barber shops, as revealed by a senior officer who had gone for a trim.
‘When the haircut was complete, he was ushered towards a back room and shown a number of female sex workers,’ the report said. ‘The barber then asked if he would like any ‘extra services.’
The risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease from a prostitute cannot only reduce a unit’s operational effectiveness, but also poses a “global reputational risk,” the report, written by the Defense Medical Service, added.
The British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) contingent in Kenya consists of approximately 100 permanent staff and a replenishing cohort of 280 short-term personnel.
BATUK’s history of sexual misconduct in Kenya
Established in 1964, BATUK is a permanent training base located 200 kilometers north of the Kenyan capital. BATUK has a controversial reputation among Kenyans: soldiers have been accused of rape and murder, and civilians have been maimed by ammunition left on the ground after exercises.
In March 2020, over 650 British soldiers were allegedly confined to their barracks in Nanyuki after several troops were feared to have contracted HIV from local prostitutes.
The report was revealed by The Mail on Sunday which claimed that up to 100 British army personnel were involved with prostitutes who set up makeshift brothels near their base in Laikipia County.
The soldiers, of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment battlegroup, were in Kenya taking part in Exercise Askari Storm.
The troops had participated in a simulated rescue of up to 400 people in mock crisis which involved parachuting into Mt Keny National Park.
The soldiers are said to have sought the services of the prostitutes based in Nanyuki town after they were granted leave.
After their night of romp with Kenyan sex workers, The Mail on Sunday said that at least 30 soldiers sought medical advice, saying they feared they may have contracted HIV or sexually transmitted infections because they had unprotected sex.
Infuriated, their commanding officer is said to have put them on lockdown until they returned to Britain.
In a separate case, a British soldier was fined and discharged after confessing he had lifted the skirt of a Kenyan woman in a mall in Nanyuki.
The Sunday Times, a British newspaper revealed the soldier, a colour sergeant or equivalent rank of a warrant officer, was drunk and the woman was known to him.
The paper identified the soldier as a Colour Sergeant Barlow and said the information about the woman’s humiliation emerged only last week.
He pleaded guilty to sexual assault, was fined £500 (Sh82,171) and was dismissed from the military.
“It is understood that Colour Sergeant Barlow lifted the skirt of a Kenyan woman, whom he knew, in a shopping mall in Nanyuki while intoxicated. He pleaded guilty to sexual assault and alongside dismissal was served with compensation order of £500,” the paper reported.
This revelation followed hot on the heels of a blockbuster report of yet another British soldier who allegedly killed a Kenyan sex worker in Nanyuki in 2012. It is reported that he posted about it on Facebook, making fun of the crime with seven or eight colleagues.
The soldier is alleged to have killed sex worker Agnes Wanjiru who was 21 at the time, on March 31, 2012, while she entertained him at Lion’s Court Hotel.
Despite the confession of the soldier, there has been no prosecution in this murder.
BATUK’s environmental atrocities
The prominent revelation of Ms Wanjiru’s murder only adds to the long list of atrocities allegedly committed by BATUK in Samburu and Nanyuki.
The soldiers have in the past been accused of carelessly leaving unexploded ordinances in the unfenced fields of Samburu, killing and maiming herders and their livestock. They have also been accused of rape, murder, assault and environmental crimes.
Rights groups working around the areas where Batuk units train have for years raised concerns about human rights violations.
The British government has twice been compelled to pay millions of shillings to residents. In total, 1,300 people who had been seriously injured or killed by the bombs qualified. The payment was done in 2003 and 2004 after a British law firm, Leigh Day, negotiated the settlement.
When lawyer Martyn Leigh filed the suit, the British MoD denied responsibility for the accidents that killed at least 560 people, mostly children, over 50 years.
Later, defence officials in London agreed to settle the claims without admission of liability on the basis that it did leave unexploded weapons in the training areas, but for the mere fact that it used the unfenced grounds.
In 2003, 230 people were paid Sh450 million for either losing relatives, or sustaining injuries that resulted in disability.
In 2013, Amnesty International (AI) and Impact said at least 650 women had been raped by British soldiers over 35 years (1965 to 2001) in Dol Dol and Archer’s Post and that there was a conspiracy of silence by UK and Kenyan authorities.
“Despite the many complaints, Kenya and the UK failed to take effective measures: to investigate such claims, bring the alleged perpetrators to justice, ensure adequate reparation for the victims and prevent further attacks,” AI said.
Samburu women who claimed to have been raped and even impregnated by the soldiers have, however, never received compensation. They risk never receiving any, following the passing of UK’s Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act 2021, which took effect in April.
The Act, which was effected in April the same year, introduced a statute of limitation – five years – beyond which no prosecution is possible.
On July 27 2021, Defence Secretary Monica Juma and her UK counterpart, Ben Wallace, signed the new Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) in London.
It contains details on the jurisdiction, environmental and civilian protection, importation of ordnance, conducts of the visiting nations’ forces pertaining to sexual exploitation of women and settlement of disputes among others. But still, soldiers go unpunished for crimes they have committed. Some cases are pending at Nanyuki law courts.
Soldiers were blamed for starting a fire that destroyed about 12,000 acres of land at the Lolidiaga Conservancy. “Two months in Kenya later and we’ve only got eight days left. Been good, caused a fire, killed an elephant and feel terrible about it but hey-ho, when in Rome,” a British soldier wrote in a Snapchat post, angering conservationists.
Under the DCA, the UK invests Sh1.165 billion annually and trains about 1,100 soldiers from the Kenya Defence Forces preparing for deployment to Somalia.
The DCA states that the visiting forces shall avoid acts that impact on human health and safety, bans sexual exploitation of children, details on the disposal of arms wastes and the procedures to be taken prior to military training involving live firing in designated training areas.
British troops sparked a major fire in Kenya on 23 March 2021 (Photo: MOD)
The rules of engagement have been similar to those the previous DCAs, yet the rate of prosecution of UK soldiers in Kenya remains very low. On the case of Wanjiku, the then British High Commissioner Jane Marriott said the UK would cooperate with investigators.
“In 2012, the UK’s Special Investigation Branch carried out initial enquiries in Kenya, including providing information about British personnel to Kenyan police. No further requests were received at that time. Following the conclusion of a Kenyan inquest in 2019, we understand that the Kenyan authorities are looking into the murder. We will support that Kenyan police investigation,” her statement read in part.
Parliament Probes abuses by British soldiers in Kenya
In August 2023, The National Assembly launched an inquiry into alleged atrocities inflicted on Kenyans by BATUK based in Laikipia and Samburu counties.
By invoking Article 95 of the Constitution which mandates the National Assembly to represent the people, deliberate on issues of concern to the people and exercise oversight of State organs, the Departmental Committee on Defense sought to assure Kenyans that it would conduct a comprehensive investigation into the alleged malpractices.
Among the allegations being probed include; Ethical breaches related to misconduct, including corruption, fraud, discrimination, abuse of power, and other unethical behaviours.
The committee is also looking into human rights violations including mistreatment, torture, unlawful detention, killings, or any other violations of internationally recognized human rights standards.
BATUK’s operational integrity especially safety protocols, compliance with legal requirements and adherence to established military standards is also under the microscope.
The unresolved murder case of Agnes Wanjiru, the woman allegedly murdered by a British soldier in March 2012, is among atrocities and human rights violations that the Parliamentary Defense watchdog is seeking to probe and seek justice.
The committee has so far received 10 petitions implicating the British Army Training Unit in Kenya.
With no single accused Army officer having been prosecuted in Kenya, perhaps this probe is a God sent opportunity for the victims who have been waiting for Justice to submit their case.
Cyrus Jirongo, one of the biggest beneficiaries of autocratic regime of the late President Daniel Moi, had come out to reveal one of the darkest secrets that’s bound to elicit new debate and anger.
Jirongo in an interview with Lawyer PLO Lumumba has sensationally claimed that the Moi regime knowingly dumped toxic nuclear waste in Norther Kenya and has linked it to the high prevalence of cancer cases in the region.
He claims he was given classified documents by Jim Choge who at the time was Nicholas Biwott’s lawyer. Biwott known as Total Man, was the most powerful man in Moi’s cabinet at the time. Jirongo says the documents had details of the allegations and where the waste was being dumped in the Northern Kenya.
He confronted Moi with the documents of energy officials cheating Kenyans that they’re on oil searching mission while in real sense, dumping poison in the said region. He says Moi’s reaction was shocking, he instead got furious as to how Jirongo laid his hands on the classified documents.
“I’ve never been in trouble like that, because I was asked where did you get the documents from?” Jirongo said Moi went ahead and issued serious threats to him, “if you don’t tell me where you got this documents from, it’s the end of you.”
He then made attempts to calm the angry Moi and reminded him of the secrecy code, “yourself said we must always keep secrets and I can’t reveal my sources, you now have the information and the state machinery as the head of state to verify and ascertain the the facts of this matter,” Jirongo recounted his conversation with Moi.
He says their meeting went on for over 30 minutes and it was so heated that at one point the president’s security stormed into the room thinking that things had escalated into physical altercation, “he was ranting loudly, his security had thought I was fighting him,”
After their meeting, Jirongo said Moi sent him a stern warning against revealing to anyone any detail of what they had talked about, “whatever we’ve discussed here, if I ever hear it outside there, utajua (you’ll know me),” Jirongo recalled Moi saying.
He goes further to point out in the interview seen by Kenya Insights, that he was not only fixed subtly by Biwott by being given the sensitive documents through his lawyer to have him fired from Moi’s inner circle but also that Moi whom he had confronted with the documents, could’ve been complicit in the alleged plot.
“I thought to myself what I was doing and questioned myself whether I was talking to the person who was dumping the waste because that’s what appeared to be the reason behind his angry reaction.”
Cyrus Jirongo and Daniel Moi./File
Jirongo recalls that his meeting with Moi promptly ignited a cabinet reshuffle with panicked Moi trying to control the damage and contain further information leak, “as I crossed the gates of State House, it was around 4pm, the Permanent Secretary who had just been posted to the Ministry of Energy was immediately reshuffled following our quarrel with Moi because it was believed he was the one who had given me this documents yet it was Choge, Biwott’s lawyer who had given them to me,” he says.
Jirongo says he later learned of the bigger plot to finish him, “Biwott gave Jim the documents so he could get back to Moi that we’re naked, that this boy(Jirongo) knows too much about us therefore we must destroy him.”
Jirongo, a former presidential candidate attributes the high cancer rates in Northern Kenya to this dumping, “if you do a survey on the cancer rate in Kenya, you’ll find out it’s heaviest in the North Eastern and it’s surrounding, if you go to western and Nyanza, the cases are not as many because the dumping was taking place in that direction.
Why cancer prevalence is high in Northern Kenya
Cancer has become a leading cause of death in the country with an estimate of over 100 lives being lost to the monstrous illness everyday.
In 2014, then Standard Media Group Crime reporter Dennis Onsarigo highlighted the plight of the people of Marsabit and Mandera Counties, who are silently suffering from the dreadful disease.
In the documentary dubbed Desert of Death, Onsarigo narrated how the poor ontinue to lose their loved ones to stomach and throat cancer.
In the story, the reporter had highlighted how young children, mothers, fathers and their grandparents travel through the painful cancer journey without proper medication.
Then, the youngest cancer patient was three years old. The boy died a few weeks after Onsarigo visited the area.
In fact, Onsarigo found out that the residents had no money to buy food, leave alone transport to get them to the nearest hospital.
Loss of weight, chest pains, throat pain, belly swelling among patients paints the picture of the sorry state of residents, a majority of whom died less than a year later.
The investigation linked the cases to human activities in and around the county.
In Kargi village, Onsago identified wells that were dug by a foreign oil company about 30 years ago in the quest of oil in the region.
The wells are the source of water for the residents and their animals.
According to a health officer who Onsarigo interviewed, majority of the patients that the local hospital admitted had drunk from the well, and there were sufficient reasons to believe the water, contaminated with excessive levels of mercury and other chemicals, is the cause of cancer in the area.
At the time, the medics disclosed that at least 64 cases had been reported in Kargi village, the numbers rising by half from previous years.
Doctors received three cases related to cancer every week.
Alarmed, a government report recommended for the closure of wells drilled close to the oil exploration sites over suspicion that something toxic may have been dumped in the area.
The report recommended that residents find alternative water points for their animals and own consumption. To date, dozens continue to fall ill.
Besides the government, various experts including foreigners examined the water and concluded that it was unfit for human and animal consumption.
Besides human deaths, reports indicate that as of 2014, over 2000 cattle had died after drinking water from the wells.
Where the problem started
Sometime in May 1984, Amaco Corporations, the parent company of Amaco Petroleum Kenya was given the green light for prospective oil in Kenya. The agreement signed with Amaco was close to Ksh691 million.
The exploration would according to the government and the international giant oil company roll out on a staggering 14,000 square kilometres and Marsabit was at the centre of the plan.
Amaco dug at least five oil wells among them Sirius-1, Bellatrix-1, Chalbi-3, Hothori-1.
The wells would later deprive residents happiness.
Increasing cases of cancer in the region raised an alarm in 2006. A government delegation was sent to probe the matter.
A report by the National Environment Management Authority of Kenya (NEMA) revealed that indeed water in the region that locals depend on for their daily activities was not fit for consumption.
Involvement of Europe
In 2010, the environmental organisation, Greenpeace, revealed that nearly 10 million tonnes of radioactive toxic waste from Europe was shipped to Africa between 1988 and 1994, and identified the Somalia coast as one of the key destinations. In 2005, an Italian environmental group and a former member of a criminal organisation also revealed how dozens of ship laden with toxic waste were sunk off the Italian coast and in the Mediterranean. They also reportedly shipped this dangerous waste to Somalia, Kenya and DR Congo to be buried on land or dumped off their coast.
According to UNEP officials, large containers of hazardous waste, including heavy metals such as lead and mercury, washed ashore in parts of Puntland, Somalia during the Tsunami in 2004. In 2009, Al Jazeera TV aired a compelling documentary in which former officials of an Italian maritime company revealed how they bribed officials in Somalia in the 1990s to bury radioactive waste in heart of that country, amid heart-rending story of death and destruction in that area.
In 1992 the countries of the European Union and 168 other countries signed the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal. Despite that, international trafficking in toxic waste by businesses and criminal lobbies has soared.
According to Greenpeace, it is a lucrative enterprise of $124 billion annually. Europe alone produces over 40 million tonnes of toxic waste; 70 per cent of these is unaccounted for.
The cases of cancer deaths continue to be reported in the region but little has been done to correct the situation as residents still use the water to quench their thirst. Besides mercury, the water is said to have high levels of nitrate chemical compound.
A filter was installed in the area to lower the level of contamination in water but a few years later it’s not in use. Experts warn there is more than contaminated water, begging the question of which substance was left behind during the excavation.
The residents just like many poor Kenyans in the country who can not afford early screening of cancer or access specialized treatment continue to wait for help that may never come, all they stare at is increasing number of graves that remind them of their forgotten state.
Class suit
Cancer is the second leading cause of death among non-communicable diseases, and the number of cases is rising rapidly.
The annual incidence in Kenya is about 28,000 cases, with an annual mortality of 22,000 cases, meaning 78.5 per cent of the victims do not survive.
Cancer is also said to be the third-leading cause of death in Kenya, after infectious and cardiovascular diseases. In 2005, cancer deaths were about 18,000 people, and by 2014, they were about 22 000.
The disease affects Kenyans of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds but has a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable groups.
Cervical cancer makes up the largest portion of cancer cases (nearly 12 per cent), followed by breast cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma, oesophageal and prostate cancer.
In 2023, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, new cases of all types of cancers increased to nearly 20 million worldwide, and there were 10 million deaths (up from about 17 million and 9.5 million respectively in 2020).
Projections suggest that one in five people worldwide will develop cancer during their lifetime and that the global cancer burden is projected to rise by about 50 per cent over the next 20 years.
The growing burden is driven by aging populations, as well as several risk factors, such as sedentary lifestyles, obesity and smoking.
Most cases in the country are diagnosed at an advanced stage, when treatment options are limited and families make huge sacrifices, often with poor results.
Petition
In the wake of Jirongo’s confession, there has been an increasing calls for a class action lawsuit against the government.
“The prevalence of throat cancer in Northern Kenya is higher than the rest of Kenya and the toxic substances are believed to be the precursor. The perpetrators of this heinous crime should be identified and, if possible, punished. The victims should get reparation.” Simba Guleid, former Isiolo Governor has said.
In 2020, the Marsabit community petitioned the High Court, through Kituo Cha Sheria, to compel the government to intervene quickly to avert further spread of the scourge to save the lives of both people and livestock.
It is the first time in Kenya that a community is suing the state to have it compelled to provide a clean and healthy environment—a constitutional right.
The matter was filed before the deputy registrar of the Constitutional and Human Rights Division at the High Court in Nairobi by senior counsel John Khaminwa and Kituo Cha Sheria lawyer John Mwariri and Valarie Ang’awa.
In this case, the petitioners are compelling the government to ensure they have access to clean and safe water.
The underground water used by the pastoralist communities in the desert has been found to contain toxins.
Residents claim the poisonous substances were dumped in the desert by multinational corporations.
They said Amoco Petroleum, which explored oil in the 1980s and abandoned the project, after drilling oil wells in Kargi and Dukana locations, did not properly decommission the wells.
Residents claim the chemicals used by explorers in their activities were neither destroyed nor buried. They include toxic chemicals, general equipment and scrap metal.
The poisonous material was left on the ground and is suspected to be the cause of the numerous cancer deaths among residents. Livestock is also affected.
Other areas affected include Dukana, Bubisa, Maikona, Kalacha and Noth Horr—all in the northern part of the desert. The disease has also spread to other parts of the county.
The petitioners are also blaming a cache of carcinogenic, hazardous waste they say was dumped in the desert around Kargi location in the 1980s by global companies.
To support their assertion, they cite a report in 2010 by Greenpeace, an environmental non-governmental organisation based in the Netherlands.
In the report, the NGO revealed that nearly 10 million tonnes of toxic waste from Europe were shipped to Africa between 1988 and 1994.
One of the key destinations for this cancer-causing waste, the report said, was the Somalia coast.
The petitioners, however, say the Greenpeace report is supported by Legambiente, an Italy-based environmental association that started out as an anti-nuclear campaigner.
It confirmed that “vessels were sent to Somalia and other developing countries such as Kenya and Zaire (DR Congo) with toxic cargoes.”
The nuclear waste is believed to have been buried in the Chalbi desert and other barren areas of northeastern Kenya.
Speculation about the dumping of nuclear waste has been rife in Kenya, and the issue was first raised in Parliament in the 1990s following complaints about incidents of strange deaths in Marsabit and in northeastern counties.
The government has always denied the claims, but in 2009 the Ministry of Environment investigated the cause of the deaths of people and livestock in Kargi location, assisted by other ministries and government agencies.
In a report, Persistent Water Poisoning in Marsabit District, the government notes that Western multinationals are known to have dumped hazardous waste in third world countries. It goes further to say that allegations that such waste might have been discarded in Kenya should not be dismissed.
Residents of Kargi witnessed the dumping of toxic waste. It took place at the same time as the oil exploration by Amoco Petroleum.
One of the most memorable is the deaths of 7,000 livestock—cattle, sheep and goats—in January 2000. The animals had consumed water from a borehole in Kargi.
Near the borehole, a deep hole, residents say, had been drilled by unknown foreigners and several white substances buried and covered.
Earlier in the 1990s, a similar incident had taken place in Balesa, near Dukana in northern Chalbi, when a flock of sheep and goats died after consuming water from a borehole drilled next to an abandoned oil well.
The well was drilled by Amoco Kenya Petroleum Company.
After the livestock deaths, several cancer cases were detected among residents of Chalbi desert—a majority of them from Kargi, Bubisa, Maikona, Kalacha and North Horr.
Death became so common in these areas that people stopped seeking medical treatment after being diagnosed with cancer.
North Eastern leaders to Jirongo
Leaders from the larger North Eastern Region have in the past been vocal about the alarming cancer rates that they say risk wiping out the population of the region.
“Cancer has been spreading and is now affecting many people. The government must take responsibility as it brought oil explorers here,” Senator Godana Hargura said, adding the government should compensate residents for its lapse.
Meanwhile, the Kenya Parliamentary Group(PPG) through their chairman Major Bashir, Mandera North MP has reacted to the news and their intention to summon Jirongo and demand for government’s reaction to the matter, “While the information been given out in the clip by Mr Jirongo is food for thought and further action, it however borders on criminality and needs to be investigated. He is a person of interest; we shall also demand detailed statements from the Government in due course.” Bashir says.
“We call on the Government to order an immediate investigate by international experts. This is essential in in order to locate the sites, determine the nature the hazardous waste, and protect the environment and the residents from further damage. The Government should hold the companies involved
responsible, including officials in Government, and compensate families of all those affected.” Billow Kerrow former Senator, Mandera County said.
“Indeed this has been my suspicion for the the longest. This happened in late eighties & early nineties. I only succeeded in chasing them from Lagdera. The US Marines also wanted to drill boreholes in parts of Lagdera which in my opinion was suspicious. I told them we didn’t require their generosity & hastily left. I engaged UNEP in Gigiri at the time & weren’t helpful at all. I pleaded with UNEP to send experts with requisite gadgets to check for radioactivity in the sites in Wajir & Marsabit to no avail. It’s only fair now to constitute a Parliamentary Select Committee to get to the bottom of this saga.” Farah Maalim, MP Dadaab said.
“It was 1988 if memory serves me well, when the company allegedly dumping toxic waste set up shop in Garissa and Wajir. They curiously named it Kenya Oil Service “prospecting” for oil. They recruited numerous local labourers who told tales of digging trenches where sealed containers were buried, the Cancer epidemic followed a little later. We need to get to the bottom of this matter. The people of the North need closure to this incident and tangible action on it’s devastating consequences in the region.” Mohammed Adow, Wajir South MP said.
Ali Maalim, Mandera Deputy Governor reads a lot into Jirongo’s confession alluding he could merely be seeking attention, “Gravely concerning – Why is Jirongo coming out now – decades later? Or could it be a publicity stunt to seek some relevance?” He posed.
“My documentary “Desert of Death” laid bare this huge scandal. Moi’s regime dumped nuclear waste in Nothern Kenya which has affected the region for decades; the water bodies are laced with carcinogenics. Downstream is Meru County which is also grappling with many cases of cancer let alone the meat we consume around the country.
Cancer is a national crisis waiting to happen.
Biwott died of cancer. His nuclear waste caught up with him.” Investigative journalist Dennis Onsarigo says.
Detectives based at Juja Police Station in Kiambu are currently investigating a reported case of kidnapping of a 23-year-old Victor Kibet who was abducted by unknown persons posing as police offices from an entertainment joint where he was partying with his friends.
Mr. Kibet, graduated from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (Jkuat) main campus last year with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and despite not having a formal job, he has been living large according to reports. His father Paul Mutai talking to the local media, said he couldn’t put a hand on exactly what kind of activities his son is involved in but describes him as industrious mind with a knack for making money.
“”My son told me he had started a business with other friends, but he never told me which one. We used to support each other financially. Sadly, he is missing and I am on my way to Nairobi from Narok to find out what has happened,” Mr Mutai is quoted speaking to a local newspaper.
Going by his social media accounts particularly TikTok where he showed off his opulence, Mr. Kibet brags of owning variety of luxury cars including a 2023 pearl white Mercedes-Benz GLC 250 4matic, an Audi Q5, a Toyota Mark X that he recently sold and a Subaru Forester that he often splashed his followers with.
A party diehard, things took a sharp turn for Mr. Kibet on Monday when armed men who identified themselves as police officers picked him up from a local entertainment joint for ‘interrogation’ and bundled him into a waiting Subaru car, followed by a double-cab pick-up and has since then not been seen.
After unsuccessful search in surrounding police stations including Thika Police Station, Juja, Ruiru, Central Police Station, his abduction was recorded at Juja Police Station under OB number 74/19/3/24 at 6:58pm.
“We supported each other financially and he is a very generous son whose life was starting to take shape until he was abducted on Monday. I wonder why anyone would want to abduct or harm my son. I have not slept since I was informed that he was missing and I pray that wherever he is, he is safe,” Mr Mutai is quoted by the local newspaper.
Kasarani Four
The disappearance of Mr. Kibet brings back memories of four men; Frank Obegi, Fred Obare, Moses Nyachae and Elijah Omeka who were disappeared in June 2022 under unclear circumstances only for their lifeless bodies to be found dumped in different places.
Obegi, considered a Twitter bigwig due to his huge following on social media before his mutilated body and those of his three friends were found in Lari Forest, Kiambu County, the stars seemed to have aligned for Obegi and the young man was poised for big money and influence.
Despite his huge social media following and claims of life on the fast lane, to residents of Bogwendo village, Obegi was just another young man who had been sent to university in the hope that he would one someday change the fortunes of his poor family.
Sadly, that was not to be. Not only did the 26-year-old not graduate from university, his life was cut short by unknown people who gouged out his eyes and chopped off his genitals.
From left: Frank Obegi, Fred Obare, Moses Nyachae and Elijah Omeka. The bodies of the four men from Kasarani in Nairobi were found in three different counties two weeks ago.
Obegi, who was the youngest of the four, joined the group by chance during the early days of the Covid- 19 pandemic, when all learning institutions were shut down. Before the pandemic, Obegi was just another Information Technology student at Multi Media University who was struggling to pay school fees.
However, after joining the group, he became a become a social media star who could splurge tens of thousands of shillings on drinks in a single night.
Omeka, one of the four, who had by then moved from Kasarani to Kamakis on the Eastern Bypass, would join them once in a while, as he would also hang out with another set of “business friends”.
These friends included Joseph Njau Ngendo, the politician whose body was found dumped alongside those of Obegi and Obare in Lari on June 19 2022.
Njau was at that time battling a court case after being arrested while trafficking five kilos of cocaine the year before. He was reportedly trying to maintain a low profile as he sought an alternative source of income.
According to police records, the politician was part of a larger heroin distribution network in Nairobi that procured narcotics from a Nigerian who was based in Kampala, Uganda.
Dark Web Crimes
It was not only Omeka who had a separate group of friends dabbling in suspicious activities. Obare too was known to hang out with Jack Anyango, Omeka Obuong, Benjamin Imbai and Brian Oduor, the four men who were kidnapped as they left a restaurant in Kitengela and murdered last April. It is not known what sort of business Obare was doing with the Kitengela Four, whose disappearance and murders mirror that of the Kasarani Four.
It is in these circumstances that Obegi became a member of a gang that police say was involved in online fraud linked to cryptocurrency and other crimes.
As rightly claimed by their families, the four started out as online writers, like many other Kenyatta University (KU) students who lived in Kahawa Wendani, just across the road from KU’s main campus. Obare reportedly did online writing up to the day he died and mainly whenever he did not have money.
Online writing was however a fall-back plan or a cover, as police have linked the group to an international credit card fraud syndicate that has sucked in so many Kenyan university students that Kasarani and Kahawa Wendani have now been listed as hotspots by law enforcement agencies.
In fact, Obegi, Obare and Nyachae had been arrested on several occasions including a week before their disappearance by officers from Kasarani Police Station but were never charged.
Each year, about 115 million debit and credit cards are stolen in developed countries and posted on the dark web, according to Gemini Advisory, a cybersecurity firm that tracks underground marketplaces and forums.
Experts say the internet is made up of three tiers; the surface web, which is accessible to anyone with data, a communications device and can access a browser such as Google; the deep web, which contains password-protected sites like Facebook or Twitter; and the dark web, which requires special browsers such as Tor, Freenet, Subgraph and Waterfox.
The difference between the dark web and normal browsers is that users are able to hide their identities. Every day millions of stolen credit cards, cryptocurrency accounts, hacked Gmail and Twitter accounts, purchasable malware and even drugs are sold on the dark web.
International credit card scamming syndicates have identified Kenya as a good location to launder their stolen funds due to its robust financial technology sector, powered by Mpesa. Those who know the Kasarani Four say they were part of local gangs that helped international credit card scamming syndicates to launder their cash. Dozens of other university students living especially in Kahawa Wendani finance their lavish lifestyles this way.
In most cases, money stolen from credit cards in countries such as the US is deposited into accounts held by the Kenyan university students who have a close-knit circle that is difficult to penetrate. The fraudsters then send a fake invoice to their Kenyan counterparts for some fictitious service. After receiving the invoice, the Kenyan associates wire the money indicated on the invoice to some other bank account owned by the fraudsters and earn a commission.
Those who have been in the business long enough and have IT skills do the hacking themselves by purchasing details of stolen credit cards on the dark web or on Telegram. The hacked credit cards are then used to order expensive food at hotels, alcoholic drinks, electronic gadgets and even cars.
This is done quickly lest the owners abroad realise their cards have been hacked and ask their banks to block them.
Kenya has in the recent times tightened its grip on cybercrimes following the disgraceful listing on the grey list by Financial Action Task Force, FATF, international crime watchdog for loose ends in curbing money laundering.
A report from the FATF last year said Kenya mainly faced risks from flows of money linked to terrorism financing from both inside and outside its borders, while cryptocurrencies posed further risks.
A section of Kenyans have turned their backs on Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja and accused him of being intolerant towards fair criticism after suing Human Rights activist Jerotich Seii for alleged defamation.
Coming hot on their heels, the Nairobi boss is being criticized for not having a hard shell to deal with criticism from his voters.
The governor has moved to court seeking Sh100 million in damages from the activist and Standard Media Group for defamatory remarks she allegedly made during an interview with Spice FM.
The suit doesn’t come as a surprise as Seii has in the recent past put up a sustained campaign against the governor especially on social media stemming from illegal structures suffocating the city.
The Suit
In the court document, Sakaja asserts that on January 26, Jerotich Seii appeared as a guest on the program, where she insinuated collusion between him and real estate developers to erect high-rise buildings exceeding legal height limits.
“On the 26th day of January 2024, the 2nd Defendant/Respondent herein, in a morning show programme dubbed ‘The Situation Room’ that was aired by one of its radio stations by the name Spice FM, hosted the 1st Defendant as the guest speaker where alongside the programme hosts namely Mr. Eric Latiff, Ms. Ndu Okoh and Mr. Charles T Muga, went on a discourse of discussing the guest’s views about the recent unveiled Chinese Property Developers Association,” the statement read in part.
According to Sakaja, the program hosts failed to moderate the guest’s remarks, which he claims have tarnished his reputation and undermined his status as a reputable citizen, as enshrined in Chapter Six of the Constitution.
The lawsuit specifically highlights statements attributed to Jerotich, implying that the Governor and developers knowingly violated the law.
“The community are organised, they do public participation informing the developers that you are not going to construct here and send them away somehow, these guys end up getting permission/permits that they require and finally after launching the association and going to visit the Governor Sakaja in his office, the following day all permits were issued and they are excavating as we speak,”Jerotich had purportedly stated.
Through his lawyers Okatch & Partners, the governor accuses the activist of defaming him by linking him to a Chinese cartel behind the controversial buildings in the capital.
“She alluded to the fact that the Governor had “gotten to bed” with the Chinese Property Developers and thus neglected the voters who have elected him into his office, to add salt to the injury she vehemently stated that the Governor Johnson Sakaja had left the groups whatsapp in order to avoid accountability and she vehemently stated that:”….Governor Sakaja, left all the Kilimani Foundation whatsapp groups quietly in the dead if the night on the 27th day of December, shortly after that, the Chinese are in his office thereafter, he is launching the Chinese property Developers Association, Immediately after permissions are issued to this company called Alina on Likoni Lane and the MD of Alina is the vice chair of the Chinese property Developers Association. If this is not cartel what is?” Part of the document reads.
Moreover, the remarks have been framed as an attack on his qualifications to hold office as stipulated by Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
The governor seeks not only a financial settlement but also an unqualified apology from the defendants, along with a permanent injunction to prevent further defamatory publications.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://cms.kenyainsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/HCCCE0322024-HON-SAKAJA-V-STANDARD-GROUP-PLC-JEROTICH-SEII.pdf” title=”HCCCE0322024-HON SAKAJA V STANDARD GROUP PLC & JEROTICH SEII”]
Reactions from Kenyans
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna called out the governor over his decision, “This is a cowardly attempt to silence critics. We need involved citizens like you to keep the elected honest. The beauty is that Nairobi has 5 million of us. Sakaja cannot sue us all.” He write on X.
Taking to X to express their disgust with the suit, a number have marked it as a SLAPP aimed at silencing Seii and potential ‘defamers’. “This looks suspiciously like a SLAPP suit. Unfortunately these are becoming all too common,” John Allan Namu, renowned investigative journalist pointed out.
“The primary goal of a SLAPP is not to win the case, but rather to use the legal process itself to inflict financial and emotional strain on the defendant. Defamation suits are a common SLAPP tactic,” Lawyer Stephen Mallowah explained.
He continued, “high damage awards in defamation suits can create a chilling effect, making individuals or groups hesitant to speak out on matters of public interest for fear of expensive and lengthy court battles. on matters of public interest for fear of expensive and lengthy court battles. The plaintiff is often a wealthy individual, corporation, or government entity with greater resources than the defendant. The allegedly defamatory statements address issues of public concern, such as criticizing business practices or government actions.“
Some senior lawyers also dismissed the suit as a joke, former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi belittled it sarcastically terming it ‘Obtaining fees through false presences’.
Another lawyer Mr Ndong termed it as a suit in futility, accusing the lawyer who drafted if for misleading the governor, “Sometimes I do think some of my Learned Friends mislead Clients in Defamation suits. Definitely won’t succeed.”
Renowned activists also joined to stand in solidarity with Seii and in calling out Sakaja for his move, “You fight out of pain or passion. What’s important is that when Jerotich wins, the public wins. She is fighting for all Nairobi residents.” Boniface Mwangi said.
“We cannot allow criminals and dishonest politicians like Sakaja who are drunk with power to use the courts to intimidate citizens for exercising their rights!” Said Wanjeri Nderu, “Human Rights Defenders and Active citizens have a right to demand for services and accountability from elected officials. Defamation lawsuits are a tactic used by those afraid of exposure to silence critics we must speak up. This is madness!” She added.
Seii has relentlessly criticized the county government and the governor himself for overseeing rising constructions of alleged dangerous buildings in the capital mostly done by the Chinese contractors that she alleges have pocketed the governor.
Users of a Multicurrency Card issued by I&M (Rwanda) on behalf of MasterCard move to East Africa Court of Justice seeking compensation.
Global payment company MasterCard and a regional bank I&M are being sued, alongside the Rwanda government, for USD 139 million (KES 20.1 billion) by 150 Rwandese cardholders who claim they were arrested and detained without trial and their cash and personal property confiscated following “false accusations” of bank fraud, money laundering and false enrichment.
The applicants have filed the suit before the East Africa Court of Justice (EACJ) based in Arusha, Tanzania seeking a declaration that their arrest and detention by Rwanda Investigation Bureau infringed on their constitutional rights.
In the suit filed by Ssemakula Ali Abaas and Nyinawumuntu Leatitia on behalf of the 150 other users of the Prepaid Mastercard Multicurrency Card issued by I&M Bank (Rwanda).
The applicants are represented by Joseph McDonald of McDonald and Company Advocates of Nairobi, Kenya.
“The dispute at hand centres on a group of Rwandan Citizens/Residents who entered into a Bank/Customer relationship with I&M Bank Rwanda PLC when the bank issued them with a Mastercard Multi-Currency card,” said McDonald, a Kenyan advocate.
The Card could hold up to 17 different currencies and one of the benefits as advertised in the bank’s website was that a card holder could shift one currency to another within the card’s sub-wallets.
Said McDonald.
“A comparison between the rates offered by the bank and those on the MasterCard platform revealed that the latter offered favourable rates. The group would then develop the practice of shifting currencies within the card’s sub-wallets i.e. from AED to EURO and back to AED, resulting in a 10% profit. This activity essentially leveraged price differences across markets, a practice known as arbitrage. As a matter of fact, I&M had run a commercial advertisement that gave customers 10% discount on the usage of their multicurrency card.”
On or around January 2023, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau arrested the over 150 individuals on allegations of bank fraud, money laundering and illicit enrichment.
The applicants according to documents seen by Kenya Insights claim that they were detained without trial for more than three months, were denied bail, were extorted/ forced to transfer money to escrow accounts, their properties confiscated and their family members and friends were also detained and tortured to give information.
Below are some of the suit’s documents:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://cms.kenyainsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IandMsue.pdf”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://cms.kenyainsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Statement-of-Reference.pdf” title=”Statement of Reference”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://cms.kenyainsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/List-of-documents.pdf” title=”List of documents”] [pdf-embedder url=”https://cms.kenyainsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1st-Applicant-Abassa-Affidavit.pdf” title=”1st Applicant-Abassa-Affidavit”]
Four unknown men walked into Kelvin Kiptum’s home in Chepsamo village, Elgeyo Marakwet for a specific reason. According to the father they introduced themselves as visitors from the big house implying State House. As it would later come to light, the four were agents of Chinese shoe company Qiaodan Sports that Kiptum had signed a contract with prior and they were doing a follow up and deal brokering after the athlete dropped the brand.
Four days later after this meeting, Kiptum died in a mysterious road accident. Kiptum’s father, Samson Cheruiyot broke down in tears during a media interview as several family members surrounded him. The father asked for an investigation to be opened and is asked for answers.
Samson Cheruiyot claims that four strangers came to his house asking for Kiptum and that they must have been evasive about what the purpose was.
“They said they wanted to get hold of him, and now that this has happened, I wonder what they were looking for at the time. What did they want from my son? They refused to identify themselves, says Cheruiyot according to The Times.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives arrested and questioned them to establish the nature and motive of their visit, after Kiptum’s father, Samson Cheruiyot raised an alarm. Leaders from the region and parliament had called for a probe into the death with a general belief that there was a foul play.
However, the men, who were described as strangers to the family by Mr Kiptum’s father, said they were not strangers to the family as the business talks have been ongoing. Begging the question as to why the father would have changed his tune and when more worrying is the nature of the negotiations that would raise his suspicions to link the visits to the accident.
Speaking after grilling by detectives in Iten, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, the two former Uasin Gishu MCAs and two businessmen confirmed that they visited the athlete’s home to discuss a business deal as agents of the Chinese firm.
Details have now emerged about their mission to the late Kiptum’s home.
The four men reportedly sought out Kiptum to discuss the particulars of a Ksh.45 million contract signed between the late marathoner and the Chinese company.
The athlete had opted to pay back the Chinese company, but the company was only interested in having the athlete fulfill his contractual obligation and not a legal battle so they sent the four to negotiate a deal.
“The Chinese company was to supply sports equipment to Kiptum to be used during the Chicago marathon and it is alleged that Kiptum opted to use a different brand (Nike) and not the Chinese brand as agreed,” Elgeyo Marakwet CCIO Joshua Chelal said.
“Therefore Qiaodan Sports were aggrieved and sent the four men to negotiate whether they could be compensated or whether they would be given another opportunity to supply Kiptum equipment for the forthcoming Rotterdam race slated for April 2024.”
Botched Deal
British The Times writes that Qiaodan Sports and Kiptum are said to have been in a dispute over a contract worth around Sh45 million.
The Chinese claimed they had an agreement with Kiptum, but the Kenyan ran with Nike, with whom he had a favorable contract.
Before the London Marathon, Qiaodan Sports appeared at Kiptum’s hotel and claimed a contract was in place, according to the newspaper.
Basketball legend Michael Jordan has also been in trouble with Qiaodan Sports. Photo: Kin Cheung / AP / NTB
Qiaodan Sports has previously been in litigation with basketball legend Michael Jordan, and was ordered to pay 54,000 dollars at the time. The reason is that the logo of Qiaodan Sports is similar to Nike’s Jordan collection. Qiaodan is a fairly shady brand. The brand name is Chinese pronunciation of Jordan (Michael) and the logo is a silhouette of Michael Jordan as well.
Quiodan and Nike don’t get along very well. Quiodan is the phonetic transcription of Jordan in Chinese and they have been fighting in court for years. The logo doesn’t help either.
After the feat of Valencia, the Chinese brand Qiaodan keen to leverage on his glory offered a Sh45 million contractto the athlete to dress and equip him, trying this way to enter road athletics and lay the foundations of a sports project that was going to have Kiptum as a great ambassador. The athlete, through his representative Marc Corstjens, accepted the offer and signed the contract on January 15, 2023.
He becomes a poster boy for the Chinese brand.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly: Kiptum had signed the contract, had collected it and had begun to use the material of the Chinese brand while preparing for the 2023 London Marathon
But something happens, Kiptum after wider consultation realizes he got the shorter arm of the deal and felt exploited having been just new in the industry and only starting to make money as a professional athlete and assumingely naive, Kiptum silently boycotts the brand and cancels the deal with Qiaodan. Kiptum had struck a better deal with an anericanprofessional sports company.
However, tensions arose when Kiptum, amidst preparations for the prestigious London Marathon, seemingly disappeared just days before the event.
Qiaodon representatives, who had traveled to Kenya to accompany their sponsored athlete, found themselves unable to reach Kiptum, raising concerns about his commitment to the sponsorship agreement.
The situation took a dramatic turn when, at the London Marathon, Kiptum appeared clad in Nike apparel, contradicting his contractual obligations with Qiaodon.
Qiaodon, understandably dismayed by Kiptum’s actions, is reportedly contemplating legal action against the Kenyan athlete.
According to a demand letter dated 23rd April 2023 seen by Kenya Insights, Zhongqiao Sports Company Limited, the makers of the shoes are threatening to sue Kiptum over the alleged breach.
Copies of the demand letter to Kiptum.
Despite the threats of litigation, Kiptum stood his ground and dumped the Chinese company. And according to the police in Kenya report, he was willing to refund the company its money but they were reluctant and perhaps in a desperate situation, the firm was still determined and keen to have Kelvin onboard that they sent their agents to try convince him to accept the deal. With Kiptum holding a world marathon record, the subsequent races would give the company the much needed mileage. It is the desperate attempts to convince Kiptum into accepting the Chinese contract that got them in this whole circus of a tragic accident.
A preliminary report by investigators on the vehicle in which Kiptum and his coach died has ruled out any mechanical problems.
“The examiner said there was no pre-accident evidence of a mechanical breakdown, which means it had good breaks, tyres, lights, etc,” police said.
However, other aspects of the accident investigation were ongoing, he said.
For the Olympics in Paris this summer, it was expected that Kiptum against Eliud Kipchoge in the marathon would be one of the biggest highlights.
Kelvin Kiptum is one of many from Kenya who has reached the top of the world in running. Running gives high status in the home country.
Frank Obegi, a renowned Kenyan Twitter influencer and his three other friends’ murder has been a subject of social media talks in the recent last hours. This follows the news that the badly mutilated bodies of the four were found murdered and their body parts chopped off in Kijabe Forest, Kiambu County.
The four mutual friends went missing a week ago, and have been found killed and their bodies dumped in Kijabe forest in Kiambu. A fourth body connected to the three is said to have been found in Magadi, Kajiado County.
It is alleged that the four disappeared between Monday and Wednesday last week from Kasarani, Nairobi County before the gruesome discovery was made.
Locals in Lari informed police of the presence of the bodies one body was discovered on Saturday, three on Sunday.
According to Lari OCPD Anderson Furaha, the three bodies were badly mutilated and it seems they were killed through strangulation and had their private parts amputated.
One of the bodies recovered is said to have been partly eaten by wild animals. Preliminary reports shows that both the four bodies had deep cuts to the neck, and chopped private parts going to show that there was extreme torture before their deaths.
The men were strangled and their bodies stashed in gunny bags before being thrown into the river.
Fraudsters?
In the recent past, many young men have been going missing mysteriously with suspicions that it’s a work of police hit squad or rival gangs. Yala River has been in the news for the tens of bodies retrieved from the river and many fingers pointed to the police for extrajudicial killings.
Question that has been in my peoples minds, was Obegi and his friends involved in any manner of illegal activities that would’ve put themselves in line of fire?
A Twitter user who claims to be a close friend of Obegi claims that the Twitter influencer who surprisingly shit down all his social media accounts, was involved in cybercrimes an issue that he claims he flagged and warned him against together with the victims brothers.
In a now viral post, the user identifying himself as ‘Babu Moja’ claims that he knew of Obegi’s dirty ways of obtaining money and warned him that it would end up tragically.
Rest easy bro frank obegi. Guys kuleni jasho yenu tu, scamming won't help at all. He started with ATMs of which his brother Leyton (and some of us at seasons) warned him several times but hakusikia. On Monday they scammed someone Ksh 1M (cryptocurrency) allegedly whereby… pic.twitter.com/pbAmQNpOIp
He claimed that the late and his accomplices have been engaged in cyber fraud including ATM hacking minting millions from unsuspecting victims and cryptocurrency thuggery.
The friend claims that the murdered victims were involved in a crypto heist that lead to their deaths as they could’ve scammed the wrong person to the tune of Sh1 million, he further claims that Obegi and team have been involved in numerous crimes that at one point they were almost lynched by mob only to be rescued by the police and as a result they left Nairobi for the rural only to come right back into the trade.
..I even remember during covid 19 lock down, Frank Obegi & Mose were almost killed (mob justice) at Kasarani & the police saved them ikabidi watorokee ushago alafu later on wakarudi tena ku-scam watu. Karma ni bitch indeed. I even contributed pesa ya kuwatoa ndani.
Typical of scammers to blow up their money, a lady who claims to knowing the influencer at a closer level, he used used to spend huge on alcohol and women.
I recall very well I once saw this Frank Obegi guy in a certain entertainment joint in Westlands and boy was popping bottles like hell in a group of women and other dudes.
Pia sisi madem tunapea hawa maboy pressure ya life!
Another user who claims to have direct info on the fallen and giving anonymous information gave a bit of the story on how he was using the carding fraud.
Btw frank obegi had 2 credit cards 💳 one ya Citi bank na ingine ya American Express both pin-less. Weird thing anytime he wanted cash angeswipe bill Na excess ya 10k anaambia waitress achukue 1k amletee 9k balance, PDQ receipts showed English names as card owners https://t.co/ghhUbZ49Vy
That frank obegi guy used to frequent garage lounge thika back then when I was supervisor there,Mans was always on the VIP section where a beer goes for 500/-, she used to tip the waitresses with large ones, I think the smallest bill he ever paid was 10k. Everyone loved him there
There are theories from leaked conversations that the notorious police squad could’ve been behind the deaths of the four or a rival gang. As illustrated below. Others in the ring have been identified as; Elijah Omeka, Fred Mokaya and Mose Nyachae
Leaked conversation from one of the friends.
For the family and friends of Obegi, the social media narrative that he was involved in fraudulent activities don’t cut, he was a family man and a brother.
Obegi and wife.
In March, three more bodies were retrieved from River Yala, Siaya County, near the same spot 27 other bodies were found dumped near the Ndanu falls, three months ago bringing the total bodies fished from the river to 30.
Incidentally, a man was recently killed in Kasarani where the four lived, police would later say he was involved in ATM fraud and drinks spiking syndicate.
Cybercrimes has been on the rise in Kenya with police working with international security agencies cracking down on the suspected perpetrators in the country.
United Bank of Africa(UBA) Kenya is in trouble following accusations made by the Assets Recovery Agency that the bank hold Sh5B that they deem was acquired illegally through unethical banking practices, money laundering.
In a Miscellaneous Criminal Application No E015/2022 filed on March 10, the agency had sought from the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court to investigate the bank for the offense of money laundering.
The court issued the orders which now puts the bank in full probe.
By allowing the authority to conduct its investigations, the court wants the bank to restrict for at least 45 days account number 5501030010886 under the name Oit Africa Limited held at the same bank from doing any transactions to allow the investigating officer Issac Nakitare to access and obtain information on that account.
ARA seeks the bank’s corporation to retrieve crucial for the investigations including information on when the account was opened, bank statements since the account was opened, cheques/cash deposits and withdraws and bank RTGS/swifts transfers and other relevant info that would aid the probe.
ARA is also seeking to compel UBA managers to authorise and give the investigating officer electrically produced evidence to be used in court.
The officer said there was compelling ground for the suspicion of the account being used in money laundering.
Nakitare swears in the affidavit that on March 4, 2022, ARA received information that the said bank account had transacted and holding funds suspected to be proceeds of crime and the agency opened an Inquiry file No 14 of 2022 to investigate and inquire into activities in this account for the offences of money laundering leading to proceeds of crime.
The money in question is suspected to be over Sh5B.
The investigating officer also noted in his sworn affidavit that the bank account is being investigated for several other offenses, including money laundering and crime proceeds.
According to the affidavit seen by Kenya Insights, it is necessary to enable him complete the investigations aimed at instituting ARA and Forfeiture Proceedings.
The officer believes his work will help to collate confirmatory evidence regarding the financial flow as of the allegations.
The officer also held fears that the funds held in the flagged account may be withdrawn, transferred, spent or dissipated rendering the application and intended recovery of proceeds of crime nugatory.
UBA Kenya CEO,Chike Isiuwe.
Chike Isiuwe was appointed in August last year appointed the chief executive, replacing Kehinde Omirinde who had been serving as acting CEO of the bank, which began operations in Kenya in 2009. It is a subsidiary of UBA Plc.
Isiuwe joined the UBA-Kenya from UBA Group in Nigeria, where he was the deputy general manager – Corporate Banking Directorate.
The investigations by chain implicates the entire management and detectives will comb through the files of many.
According to a local newspaper, investigations further want to unravel the period the bank has been engaged in clearing billions of shillings in the height of 2022 elections.
The paper further claims that a senior sitting on CBK board with connections to a senior state official who has since fallen out with the high powers, was commanded to cushion the bank from any troubles given his position at CBK.
A Ms Viola Achola who’s in her 20s is reportedly listed as the director of Oit Africa Limited, the firm under probe, she’s claimed to be close to the wife of mentioned CBK board member.
Kenya Insights reached out to the bank on the above mentioned claims but they didn’t comment citing court orders.
KEMSA
Elsewhere, It is not unusual not unusual for the big boys to use proxies in executing their missions. One of the most prominent cases in the recent cases is that of Ms Zubeda Nyamlondo, a proxy director of Aszure Commercial Services a company implicated in a Sh347M scandalous tender to supply facemasks to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa).
Ms Zubeda Nyamlondo.
Nyamlondo who was casually dressed in a jungle green dress, a red marvin hat and a matching face mask when she appeared before the Public Investment Committee (PIC) took the committee in circles, at times contradicting herself and prompting members of the watchdog to conclude she could be a proxy to some powerful individuals.
Equity Bank
In August last year, Equity Bank found itself in similar circumstances that UBA is in today following claims that they were part of an alleged Sh15B money laundering scheme.
The state’s intelligence had intercepted and arrested a Turkish businessman Harun Aydin from flying out of the country to Uganda where he was to establish a vaccine making plant. According to intelligence at the time, Aydin was supposedly being used by the Deputy President William Ruto to cycle through a money laundering scheme.
The DP didn’t distance himself from his relationship with the flagged businessman.
Speaking during an interview with a local radio station yesterday, Ruto claimed he had helped Aydin to acquire a Sh15 billion loan from Equity Bank to set up a vaccine processing factory in Uganda, which he and three other businessmen alongside his close allies were scheduled to commission on Monday.
“I helped him on one phone call. He said the benefits Ugandans will get are the same that Kenyans will get.”
Many questioned as to how simple it is for Equity to dish out Sh15B as a loan merely from a phone call and to foreigners whose past are questionable.
Claim by Ruto that he secured the loan of such magnitude by simply placing a call has elicited reactions from Kenyans who’ve been victims of banks collapsing in insider, fraudulent loans.
Aydin was deported to Turkey following negotiations between the two states. The controversial businessman had been linked to terror activities before.
Nigeria
A Nigerian court in November last year, had charged regulatory bodies to withdraw the licences of the banks including UBA fir aiding aiding fraud which benefitted from the proceeds of illegal transactions.
Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja berated The United Bank for Africa, UBA, and Fidelity Bank Plc for aiding fraud, while handing down judgement in a case of N2billion fraud involving a former chairperson of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, PRTT, Abdulrasheed Maina noted that UBA and Fidelity Bank Plc which were used by Maina as “conduit” to defraud pensioners ought to have been charged alongside Maina. He stated that, “UBA and Fidelity Bank provided the channels with which the convict Mr Maina used in defrauding the federal government.”
The Judge said the banks abdicated their responsibilities by failing to carry out due diligence to establish the true identities of persons in whose names Mr Maina opened and operated the fictitious bank accounts.
In the instance UBA Kenya, did they conduct a due diligence on the flagged account/client? It must be noted that like an ocean, there’s always a ripple effect.
According to an American investigative body, The Sentry, weak financial institutions has made it possible for Kenya to become an epicenter of money laundering. Banks, real estate firms have been singled out. KCB has been on the receiving end for allegedly aiding the money laundering from the bloodshed South Sudan.
Locally, numerous banks have been found guilty of engaging in the illicit activity. However, the Vice has never stopped simply because the banks are treated to a slow motion slap on then wrist with paltry fines that can’t shake a leaf. If CBK grew bigger balls and slapped heavy fines, hold individual rogue managers responsible sending them to jail, and ultimately denying such fraud banks licenses, maybe they’d listen but until then, more money laundering headlines will keep hitting your headlines.
Money laundering, according to authorities, seeks to hide the source of money believed to have been obtained illegally, by passing it through channels including commercial transactions and other forms of investment.
According to the Financial Reporting Centre, such schemes seek to hide and legalise the funds without catching the attention of authorities and also making sure all connections of the funds to criminal activities is removed.
Finally, the “cleansed” money returns to the owner in an indirect way, and is used for legitimate purposes.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) about Sh200 trillion is laundered globally every year.
In yet another ‘handshake’ President Uhuru praised Dr. Oluga Ouma- Director, Health Services, NMS for a job well done in his tenure at the city’s office.
“We used to fight with this guy [Ouma Oluga] day in day out. Look what we can achieve when we work together!” The President said in accordance to the steps made by the director in reforming the healthcare system in Nairobi.
President Uhuru Kenyatta to Dr. Ouma Oluga: Huyu jamaa tulikuwa tunachapana akiwa kwa union. Baadaye nikamwambia hakuna haja ya kuchapana aje tufanye kazi pamoja pic.twitter.com/lQGYIGygqS
The President was addressing wananchi after opening the Mama Margaret Kenyatta Children’s Hospital in Korogocho, Nairobi, President Kenyatta said that he will focus on national unity and peace as the most important ingredients for the country’s progress.
He cited the newly opened hospital as an example of the developments that can be achieved if all leaders worked together for the country’s common good.
“If all of us, as leaders, join hands and concentrate on working together, we will succeed in transforming the lives of Kenyans. A good example is this hospital project that had stalled for close to 30 years but we managed to finish it when the national and county governments together with other leaders joined hands to ensure its completion,” President Kenyatta said.
The construction of the four-storey 350-bed hospital that is set to decongest Kenyatta National Referral Hospital as well as other level 4 hospitals in the city county was completed by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
Among the services that will be offered by the new facility include out-patient, in-patient, maternity, diagnostics, special clinics, intensive care unit services, dialysis, mortuary, accident and emergency services.
The hospital is one of the 24 health facilities which President Kenyatta directed NMS Director-General Lt. Gen. Mohamed Badi to build in Nairobi.
President Kenyatta pointed out that since the work on the 24 health facilities started, 18 of them have been completed and have served more than 4 million residents of informal settlements in Nairobi County.
“This shows that the efforts we have put in improving public hospitals are bearing fruits,” President Kenyatta said.
Dr. Ouma Oluga is the brain behind the expansion and construction of healthcare facilities in the informal sectors to decongest the weight on KNH.
In their fist bump, the president likened it with Raila’s and noted that bringing in Dr. Oluga’s brain who previously they crossed roads with as he served as the KMPDU Secretary General pushing the government to the limits in fight for better healthcare and welfare of healthcare workers, leading to standoffs and strikes, ended well.
KMPDU secretary general Ouma Oluga receives visitors in prison at the start of union officials’ month-long sentence, February 14, 2017. /COURTESY
Following a standoff with the government in 2017, Dr. Oluga was jailed alongside five union officials after their refusal to call off doctors strike that stretched out to months.
Doctors were demanding the fulfillment of a CBA signed in 2013 that included a 300 per cent pay rise and better working conditions.
Working conditions subject to review including job structures, criteria for promotions and the under-staffing of medical professionals in government hospitals.
Doctors also accused the government of failing to stock public hospitals with basic medicines and supplies of items such as gloves.
The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has divested from Bridge International Academies (BIA) amid pressure from education stakeholders that the low-cost private schools are for profit.
This move also comes amid reports of scandals that have been reported surrounding BIA and a series of serious complaints to the IFC’s independent accountability mechanism, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) regarding the IFC’s investment in the company.
In April 2018, CAO received a complaint from the East Africa Centre for Human Rights, a Kenyan NGO, on behalf of current and former parents and teachers regarding IFC’s investment in the Company in Kenya.
In the course of the compliance investigation, CAO became aware of several allegations of child sexual abuse at the Company’s schools.
In its Appraisal Report published in October 2019, the CAO announced its decision to carry out a full compliance investigation into the adequacy of the IFC’s due diligence and supervision of its investee. The compliance investigation is ongoing.
In June 2020, the CAO confirmed acceptance of two new cases on BIA, filed by the parents of two children who were electrocuted while in a BIA school in Nairobi, Kenya.
The electrocution caused the death of one child and injuries to the other. The Complainants and the Company agreed to engage in dispute resolution to try to arrive at a mediated settlement. The dispute resolution process is still ongoing.
Finally, in December 2020, the CAO concluded in its appraisal report that there are “substantial concerns regarding the child safeguarding and protection outcomes of IFC’s investment in Bridge considering: (a) specific allegations of child sexual abuse involving Bridge staff and students; (b) the child safeguarding and protection risks of the schools in light of their number, their student body (coming from low-income families), and the young age of students.” The compliance investigation is also ongoing.
The IFC has invested a total of $13.5 million in BIA since 2014, with the intention of supporting the company’s expansion to other countries.
In response to the divestment, Anderson Miamen, National Coordinator of the Coalition for Transparency and Accountability in Education (COTAE) in Liberia, said: “We applaud the IFC and World Bank for this bold step, which is long overdue. This is an extremely welcome development and a win for ongoing efforts by right-to-education campaigners and others to push for more investment in public education by governments and development partners across the world, especially in Africa.”
On her part, Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC office, said: “This is a clear signal that the IFC is distancing itself further from investments that pose risks to children, families, and teachers, and undermine public education systems. The IFC should also make permanent its freeze on investments in for-profit private education.”
The IFC divestiture comes at a time when a majority of BIA schools have closed down since their for-profit model was unsustainable, particularly in the wake of COVID-19.
Bridge Academies boasted a population of 100,000 pupils in 2016 as they acquired land in slums like Mathare and Kibera.
The divestment was confirmed through a note published on 9 March.
Court has issued a warrant of arrest against Jimi Wanjigi and sent summons to his wife Irene Nzisa Wanjigi and 6 others to appear in court to face Ksh56M land fraud charges.
Chief Inspector Maloba attached to DCI headquarters has told Senior Principal Magistrate Bernard Ochoi that Wajingi and his wife Irene Nzisa evaded arrest since yesterday at 2:30 pm and locked themselves inside a house where the police have been trying to apprehend them.
According to the charge sheet, they are all charged with land fraud in six counts ranging from obtaining money by false pretences, uttering forged documents, procuring the execution of a company by false pretences, forgery of deed plans and forgery of grant contrary to the law.
“You are charged that on June 21st 2018 at Nairobi City centre within Nairobi City centre jointly with intent to defraud obtained Ksh56M from Kenroid Limited by falsely pretending that you were in a position to sell IR.NO.658000 LR.1870/11/200 deed plan No.175145 measuring 0.3314 ha registered to Auream Limited,” the charge sheet read in part.
On the first count, Wanjigi, his wife and the six others are alleged to have committed a land fraud offence on diverse dates between April 9, 2010, and June 5, 2018, at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya.
He is alleged to have conspired to forge a title deed for land registered as IR 65800 LR.NO.1870/11/200 deed plan No.175145 dated July 20 1993 under the name of Horizon hills limited.
The other suspects are Himanshu Velji Dodhia alias Himanshu Velji, Premchard Dodhia, Kameez Noorani, Mohammed Hussein Noorani , Mohamed Hussanali, Kairu Augustine Thuo and John Nyanjua Njenga.
Nairobi Governor Ann Kananu nominates County Chief of Staff Paul Mutunga Mutungi as Deputy Governor a day after she was sworn in.
Mutunga himself has a murky past that saw him put under investigations in the looting spree during the Kidero era that saw the county lose billions.
While picking Mutungi, Kananu has highlighted she considered leadership qualities and competence among other issues.
“In considering this nomination, I have taken into account his professional qualifications, leadership qualities, gender balance and competencies necessary for the Deputy Governor’s seat,” she noted in a letter seen by Kenya Insights.
Mutungi made a come back to city politics early this year after being appointed as Chief of Staff by Speaker Mutura when he was Acting Governor.
In 2017, he was an Embakasi South MP aspirant under the Jubilee Party but lost to ODM’s Julius Mawathe
Following the new development, it is likely Speaker Mutura will table the name in the assembly on Thursday and commit it to the appointment committee.
The 10-member Select committee on the Appointments team is led by the Speaker as its chairperson and Majority Leader as the vice-chair.
The Clerk of the County Assembly will then through a notice published in the local dailies will the communicate the vetting date and time of the Deputy Governor nominee.
After vetting, the appointment committee will then table a report in chambers for the house to either adopt or reject.
Murky Past
Mutungi is amongst many City Hall cartels from the Kidero reign who’ve been battling fraud charges in which he’s accused of having looted millions from the county.
In the case, Mutungi was mentioned alongside others in the heist that Kidero and accomplices defrauded the county Sh68M.
At the center of the case was lawyer Stephen Kariuki Mburu whose firm Wachira Mburu Mwangi and Company Advocates was used to handle the money before it was wired to various people including Kidero.
Mburu died mysteriously in a guest house in Oloitokitok on July 27, 2018.
A post-mortem examination report on Mburu did not show any foul play. His family had raised concerns after the lawyer’s phone, which went missing, kept being switched on and off.
Chief Government pathologist Johansen Oduor declared that Mburu could have died of heart-related complication, with detailed histology and toxicological report awaited to ascertain if the lawyer was poisoned.
Mburu played a key role in getting the cash from City Hall. The matter led to the arrest of Kidero and former Mayor John Ndirangu Kariuki.
According to paper trail, the late lawyer’s law firm- Wachira Mburu Mwangi and Company Advocates was used to handle the money before it was wired to various people including Kidero.
In 2011, the City Council paid Sh10 million to Mburu’s law firm which was shared in cash withdrawals to unknown persons.
With the onset of devolution, and Kidero as the first governor, another suspicious payment authorisation of Sh58 million by the county government was made and the money wired to the same lawyer on January 7, 2014.
The same money ended up in private bank accounts in a complex transaction that has taken EACC sleuths months to crack.
The dichotomy of the transactions shows Kidero as the highest beneficiary of the money which has also implicated former Nairobi City Council acting director of legal affairs Aduma Owuor. Aduma is the sitting Nyakach MP.
After receiving the Sh58 million, Mburu wired Sh15 million to Cups Limited- a company co-owned by Kidero’s former Chief of Staff George Wainana and his Son John Ngari Wainana.
The money trail.
The flow of the transactions reveals that Wainana and his son only retained Sh1 million with the rest (Sh14 million) landing in Kidero’s pocket.
In a cartel-like network involving officers both from the county and the defunct City Council, Mburu paid Ndirangu (former mayor) Sh7 million.
Obituary of lawyer Steven Kariuki.
Mburu also wired Sh10 million to Runa Insurance Agency, which later also received Sh7 million from Ndirangu.
The insurance agency is owned by Ndirangu. It later purchased a Sh17 million property (LR. No 10874/1160) from Francis Ng’ang’a Kiarie, Stephen Kiarie, Moses and Eliud Ng’ang’a Moses.
Former Nairobi councillor (now Deputy Governor) Paul Mutunga Mutungi was paid Sh6.4 million and a further Sh2 million through Mwamuye, Kimathi, Kimani and Company Advocates. The law firm used the money to offset a Sh2 million debt incurred by Mutunga for a property (block 72/989) in Nairobi.
One wonders if the Governor did her due diligence as Mutungi has a pending case raising questions on his integrity to hold public office. According to the president’s directive and morally, anyone facing a fraud charge in any law court shouldn’t be allowed to hold a public office. It will be interesting to see if the County Assembly will rise to the occasion and question the integrity matters or overlook and allow a tainted Mutungi to continue with his ways in City Hall by approving him as the Deputy Governor.
Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has told parliament that British soldiers involved in the murder of Agnes Wanjiru in Nanyuki in 2012 will be extradited to Kenya to face murder charges.
Speaking Tuesday before the National Assembly Defence Committee, Wamalwa said the government is considering the issue as the highest priority.
The CS disclosed that they have agreed with the British Government to do a joint investigation and bring the culprits to the country to face justice.
He noted that once the prosecution is made, the UK government will ensure extradition happens.
His assurance came after members of the committee alleged high-level cover-up to defeat justice over the killing.
The legislators had threatened to shoot down the military cooperation agreement between Kenya and UK until British soldiers involved in the gruesome murder of Agnes Wanjiru are brought into the country to face the law.
Wanjiru was last seen by witnesses on the night of 31 March 2012 walking out of a Nanyuki bar accompanied by two British soldiers.
Her body was retrieved nearly three months later from a hotel’s septic tank in Nanyuki town.
The Kenyan government revived the case after a soldier accused of the murder was named by his comrades after he allegedly confessed to the killing.
At the beginning of this month, following an outcry after the shocking revelations, the Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to reopen the case.
“I have directed the DCI to re-open the case and compile all the available evidence and witness accounts and ensure the case is concluded before a court of law. I am also urging the UK government to collaborate with us to conclude the case and administer justice” said Mutyambai.
The UK government has already assured of its commitment to work with the local authorities to establish the facts surrounding the killing of the 21-year-old mother of one.
Former Broadcasting and Telecommunication PS Sammy Itemere and Lugari MP Ayub Savula have suffered a blow after a Nairobi magistrate declined to expunge the evidence of former National Land Commission official Jennifer Wambua, who has since died.
Chief Magistrate Wendy Micheni, however, dismissed their arguments saying the evidence was admissible in court as there was no particular provision to expunge from the record evidence that was lawfully and procedurally admitted by the court.
According to the Magistrate, death or sickness before cross examination does not stop the evidence in chief from being admissible though its weight may be slight.
“Under the circumstances the court finds the evidence adduced by the witness before the court shall remain on record and shall not be expunged, however the weight to rely on the said evidence will be less compared to when it would have been tested through cross examination,” Magistrate ruled.
Wambua was murdered in March this year and her body dumped in a thicket in Ngong, before being taken to City mortuary.
Before her death, she had testified in the case against Itemere, Savula and other persons facing charges in relation to the theft of Sh200 million from the Government Advertising Agency (GAA).
The accused persons wanted her evidence discarded because they had not gotten a chance to cross-examine her on the testimony. They argued that the failure to cross-examine her would prejudice them and infringe on their rights to a fair trial.
It was their contention that cross-examination would have enabled them to test the evidence of Wambua and the court to determine her credibility and veracity of the testimony she gave
The demons of City Hall didn’t disappear even with the transfer of critical functions to the General Badi’s led NMS. The City’s control center which is synonymous with scandals continues to make the familiar headlines even with Nairobi Deputy Governor Ann Kananu who took from the corrupt Mike Sonko being in control.
The DG is currently fighting numerous cases that has risked her getting arrested.
She was recently summoned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations KRA Unit investigating a case involving the failure to remit income tax, withholding tax and PAYE contrary to Section 97 of the Tax Procedure Act.
Kananu moved to court to block her pending arrest over failure by county to remit Sh2.1bn tax arrears to KRA.
In the same week, court of appeal dealt a blow to Sonko who’s challenging the legality of Kananu occupying the office. Court ruled that Sonko having stayed out of office for over 10 months, he was no longer a Governor. This paved way for the swearing in of Kananu as the governor.
However, the celebrations was short lived as Sonko moved to the Supreme Court and stopped the swearing in.
Now, analysts believe that there’s a grand scheme by powerful forces to reinstate Sonko as the governor.
A network of powerful cartels in the corridors of justice is said to be frantically pushing for the return of former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko. In the scheme are judges, lawyers and politicians. This happens amidst fierce escalation of supremacy war between the executive and some individuals within the judiciary perceived to be bitter with Uhuru Kenyatta and who have consequently opted to team up with William Ruto, who pulls strings behind the scenes.
The mafias believed to have fully infiltrated the judiciary ostensibly played a major role in latest court drama that saw Sonko secure orders from the Supreme Court barring the swearing-in of acting governor Anne Kananu. There are predictions that Sonko is likely to be sneaked back to his former seat through a ruling that is coming in November in which he wants the appellate court to overturn the High Court decision and declare that he was illegally impeached.
Understandably, the idea to block Kananu’s swearing-in which came as a shocker was a result of high level consultation among the cartels, aware that Sonko stood no chance of getting back his job in the event that the deputy governor was sworn in as governor.
Failure to stop the swearing-in meant that even if Sonko was to get a favourable ruling in November, the verdict would have nothing to do with Kananu’s job. Sonko will then be governor and Kananu deputy. Constitutionally, a governor once sworn in office can only be removed through impeachment, death or through resignation. It is also against this background that the deep state and Kananu were upbeat of conducting an early morning swearing-in ceremony but which was rudely blocked.
To demonstrate how powerful individuals within the judiciary are the ones directing actions in Sonko’s case, the former governor was not moved by a decision to dismiss his appeal but instead casually went on his Facebook and confidently told his supporters to keep calm and wait for November when a petition challenging his removal will be heard in the Court. The orders barring the swearing-in of Kananu were issued by Supreme Court’s Justice Mohammed Ibrahim who certified Sonko’s application as urgent.
It is imperative to note that Ibrahim has close links with lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi who is a staunch ally of the deputy president. Also said to be part of the wider game plan to bring back Sonko is the Deputy Chief Justice and vice president of the Supreme Court Lady Justice Philomena Mwilu. Mwilu is bitter following the deep state’s power games that locked her out of the position of the Chief Justice currently held by Martha Koome. Apparently, the deputy chief justice feels that she is being frustrated and targeted by the state following her unending misfortunes as far as her professional life is concerned.
City Hall.
In her compounding tribulations, the office of the DPP is on record stating that it is confident of winning the graft and abuse of office case against the troubled DCJ. The DPP’s office has threatened to release the dossier which would seemingly secure Mwilu’s conviction. Shockingly, the Judicial Service Commission led by Chief Justice Koome cited that it had evidence on how the DCJ allegedly transacted over Sh20 million at the Supreme Court parking lot, her office building and her Kilimani home .
In a more dramatic development, former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga is the last to join the fray by telling judges to go on strike over the government’s failure to obey court orders. Mutunga’s appointment was linked to Ahamednassir then JSC member. The remarks did not go down well with Uhuru and CJ Koome who could not fathom how Mutunga was inciting judges to down their tools, given he served as the country’s CJ who should be aware of the fact that implications of calling for a judicial strike are far-reaching.
And as was widely expected, the Law Society of Kenya president Nelson Havi joined the war by defending Mutunga. According to Havi, the CJ should not have responded to Mutunga because it is common sense that judges cannot go on strike. Havi in his usual manner attacked Koome stating that ‘she lacks emotional intelligence and she needed not to respond to retired CJ’s call for judges to go on strike.
Back to city hall and Kananu’s tribulations.
Senate Devolution Committee chairman Moses Kajwang on Wednesday reprimanded Kananu for ignoring requests to go and explain reasons for paying Sh795 million to law firms out of the county’s allocation of Sh2.5 billion meant for clearance of pending bills.
Kananu had been invited to respond to a statement by nominated Senator Millicent Omanga who alleged the county was spending a huge chunk of its budget on legal fees.
She claimed in the statement that City Hall paid a total of Sh795.9 million out of the county allocation of Sh2.5 billion meant for the clearance of all pending bills in the financial year 2018-19.
Omanga also wants to know whether there was documentary evidence availed by the law firms to support the payments made by City Hall.
She also wants a progress investigation report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission on investigation on the legal fees paid to lawyers for services by Nairobi county government during 2018-19.
In the past and for long, Imaginary court cases has costing Nairobians millions of shillings and this has been revealed in past audit reports.
Before Governor Evans Kidero took over in 2013, City Hall had outstanding legal claims amounting to Sh1.21 billion.
As at September 30, 2014, City Hall had sunk Sh133 million in court cases. Between June 30 and July 1, 2013, the county government spent Sh232 million on court cases.
Questioning humongous payments to lawyers, then AG Ouko said: “No evidence was provided to indicate the nature of the court cases. It is also not clear how so many legal cases arose within a year of the county assembly’s existence. It is also not clear how they were concluded.”
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has launched investigations into multi-million shilling dealings between 25 law firms and the Nairobi County government.
The probe is focused on payment of legal fees by City Hall to the firms between 2013 and 2020.
The EACC, in a letter dated January 21, wants the county secretary to furnish it with the specific case files handled by the 25 law firms between 2013 and 2020, including letters of instructions and contract agreements.
“The commission is undertaking investigations at Nairobi City County in respect of payments of legal fees to the following firms. To facilitate our investigations, kindly but urgently furnish us with the original documents in respect to the mentioned firms,” states the letter.
The law firms
The firms include Irungu Kang’ata and Co. Advocates, Osundwa and Co. Advocates, Kwanga Mboya and Co. Advocates, Kithi and Co. Advocates, Wanjiku Maina and Co. Advocates, E.Onyango and Co. Advocates, J.O Magolo and Co. Advocates, Ario Advocates, Maskam ( Asanyo), E.N Omoti and Co. Advocates and Ogeto Ottachi and Co. Advocates.
The EACC further asked to be furnished with all payment vouchers, cheque counterfoil and a list of pre-qualified law firms for the period under investigation.
This is in addition to minutes approving the list of pre-qualified law firms and any other documents relevant to the probe.
MCAs’ complaints
The probe comes a few months after Nairobi MCAs raised concerns over the payment of large amounts of money to some law firms yet the county has not won any court cases recently.
The ward representatives also made allegations of favouritism by City Hall in the clearance of lawyers’ bills instead of small scale suppliers owed less money.
City Hall paid legal fees to the tune of Sh795.9 million out of the Sh2.5 billion allocated for clearance of all pending bills, locking out other suppliers and contractors.
As a result, MCAs, through a motion by Silvia Museiya (nominated), called on the county executive to come up with a policy to streamline outsourcing of legal services.
The legislators alleged that the outsourcing has turned into a business, with some lawyers colluding with officers in the executive, including those in the office of the county attorney, to siphon money from the county.
They claimed an unnamed law firm was paid Sh250 million despite not carrying out any legal transaction with the county government.
Audit report
Painting a grim picture of the state in the legal department at City Hall, the Auditor-General’s report for the 2016/2017 financial year revealed the department spent Sh592.4 million on unauthorised payments.
According to the report, the department spent Sh645.3 million on legal costs against an approved budget of Sh105 million.
Interestingly, the bulk of the money, Sh314.4 million, was paid to some 12 firms. The payment was not included in the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis).
In February 2019, the assembly’s Public Accounts Committee found that the legal department spent Sh480 million, more than four times the Sh100 million budgeted for.
The payments were made without documentary evidence, including a total of Sh318.4 million which was sent to several lawyers.
In the 2018/2019 financial year, a total of Sh795.9 million was paid to 48 law firms yet only eight raised fee notes.
During that financial year, 335 cases were handled by the legal department but only 12 of them were successful. The rest were either withdrawn or lost.
City Hall Capture By Cartels
When President Uhuru Kenyatta established the Nairobi Metropolitan Services in March last year, he tasked Major General Mohamed Badi and his team with dismantling cartels in Nairobi County and ending corruption.
The President had been alarmed by runaway corruption at City Hall, that had made service delivery impossible.
He said the cartels had a vice-like grip on the county government services, from garbage collection to parking, water supply and issuance of permits.
At the time, Governor Mike Sonko was facing a Sh357 million corruption charge, which eventually saw him barred from accessing his City Hall office.
Several corruption-related investigation cases had also been opened by different investigative agencies, ranging from multi-million garbage tender awards to the multi-billion stadiums construction saga.
However, after a short lull following the impeachment of Mr Sonko in December last year, with transition of power from Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura to Deputy Governor Ann Kananu, the cartels are back, this time bolder and more ferocious.
Payments to lawyers, utilisation of Covid-19 funds, AAR-City Hall staff medical scheme and Covid-19 relief programme are just but some of the brewing scandals that could yet again sink the city county back to its old ways.
Nairobi County Assembly Minority Chief Whip Peter Imwatok, who appeared to be at the forefront of the transition at City Hall, even at times directing Ms Kananu during press briefings, has in the past weeks turned into a whistleblower, lifting the lid on the happenings at City Hall.
The first was in a letter dated April 27, 2021, where the Makongeni MCA wrote to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate “suspicious and skewed” payments to 13 law firms by the Ms Kananu-led administration.
In the letter, Mr Imwatok alleges that more than Sh410 million was irregularly paid to the law firms with no information on the cases handled.
The second-term county legislator claimed the payments were made between February 9 and March 30, 2021.
Nairobi acting Governor Anne Kananu.
In January, the EACC had written to City Hall about investigation of 25 law firms over an alleged payment of Sh500 million-worth of legal fees to the law firms with the anti-graft agency following specific case files handled by the law firms between 2013 and 2020, including details of the cases, letters of instructions and contract agreements.
“It has come to our attention that even before the investigations with regards to this matter commenced, if ever they did, the Nairobi City County proceeded to pay the lawyers monies amounting to over Sh410 million,” read in part the letter.
But before all that could settle, another bombshell was dropped. Mr Imwatok wrote to the EACC and the DPP, asking them to investigate a payment of Sh275 million to suppliers.
He claimed that some seven companies, acting as “proxies to MCAs or members of county staff” undertook works or supplies in the Environment Department and/or supplied food as part of the Nairobi County Covid-19 feeding programme.
The ODM representative claimed that the county government had lined up the companies for payment for the services yet there is “no food that was ever supplied to the county or distributed to anyone”.
“It is absurd that taxpayer’s money amounting to Sh275 million shall be paid to companies belonging to MCAs or their proxies for either services and/or goods that were never supplied,” said Mr Imwatok in a letter dated April 26.
The Sh84 million feeding programme was to benefit 127,500 most vulnerable people in Nairobi’s informal settlements with foodstuff such as maize and wheat flour, sugar, rice, loaves of bread and powdered milk. Other items include blankets, sanitary towels and basins distributed to cushion them against the negative effects of the pandemic.
The programme was to run for three months between April and June 2021, with distribution done every week across Nairobi’s 17 sub-counties.
According to documents, the seven companies were given contracts worth between Sh3 million and Sh22 million to supply the items.
Procurement process
However, most MCAs have said their wards are yet to get any supplies, while those who were fortunate to receive the items said the package was not more than 50 bags.
“I not only have the contract but the invoice, the payment transaction, the CR12 of the companies and I have forwarded all to EACC. I am questioning the procurement process and I have evidence of procurement officers saying the processes were done without their consent,” said Mr Imwatok.
Then there is the controversial Sh1.7 billion AAR Insurance Kenya medical contract for City Hall staff, which has also been thrust in the spotlight.
Some MCAs have called for investigations into the deal, alleging that it has been turned into a cash cow by certain county officers, instead of benefiting the employees.
Waithaka MCA Antony Kiragu last month called on EACC and DCI to investigate the deal, claiming some county officials have been making money from the AAR-City Hall deal, with payments being staggered by the county government to give the individuals a platform to do business with the funds.
“The reason the payments are being done in phases is that people want to do business with AAR money. The officers want kickback from AAR,” charged Mr Kiragu.
Mr Kiragu’s assertions came hot on the heels of an announcement by Nairobi County Assembly Majority Leader Abdi Guyo that he will bring a motion to form an ad-hoc committee to look into the AAR-City Hall medical scheme.
The Matopeni MCA said the committee’s brief will be to investigate how AAR was awarded the tender, what services they are providing to staff and whether there is value for money.
But that is not all. Maj-Gen Badi and Ms Kananu were also summoned by Senate to respond to “cross-cutting issues” involving the NMS and City Hall over the expenditure of Covid-19 funds.
The summons came after a damning report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu on the utilisation of Covid-19 funds by counties, which fingered NMS for a number of irregularities involving Sh294.38 million received from the national government in June 2020.
Some of the irregularities involved single-sourcing of a Sh64.9 million tender for design and maintenance of a makeshift isolation centre, irregular cash withdrawal of Sh32 million from a KCB account for facilitation of health workers and Sh120 million payment to frontline health workers without a budget.
The auditor could also not establish the whereabouts of some Sh182.07 million donated by the Danish International Development Agency and the county’s own contribution to boosting the war against Covid-19.
Nairobi County Assembly Majority Leader Abdi Guyo.
Mr Imwatok claim that cartels are back at City Hall in full swing, taking advantage of the vulnerability of Ms Kananu “who is seemingly out of touch with the reality of being an acting governor”.
“The county is opaque and nobody is in charge. It is everyone for him or herself,” he said.
A nasty falling out between Jubilee and Orange MCAs had been brewing following the revelations, with Mr Imwatok under siege as some ward representatives from his own party began collecting signatures to oust him as Minority Whip.
He was accused of using the party’s name in bad light at the county government to advance his selfish interests, allegations, which he denied.
“I will not be cowed from exposing corruption at the county government. Let the masters of corruption be prepared to face me to death. I am ready for the challenge as this is not the first time I am facing such threats,” he said.
The power tussle was seen Jubilee MCAs instigate the removal of Public Accounts Committee chairperson Wilfred Odalo of ODM, with 15 MCAs — three from ODM and 12 from Jubilee — appending their signatures.
But in retaliation, the Raila Odinga-led party withdrew its membership of the watchdog committee, citing intimidation and coercion of members into signing the removal of Mr Odalo as the chairperson.
The three MCAs who supported the removal of Mr Odalo — Jared Okode, Clarence Munga and Lawrence Otieno — were also withdrawn from the committees they serve in.
However, Mr Guyo hit back, saying the committee was to continue operating as long as it has a quorum.
He added that a chairperson of any committee serves at the pleasure of members and once that confidence is lost, the chair cannot force themselves on the members.
“It is not Jubilee’s business if they (ODM) decided to pull out. The chair has been accused of gross misconduct, which will taint the image of the assembly. The members have the right to choose their chair, who will still be from opposition,” said the Matopeni MCA.
Kenya Insights has documented well the city hall cartels and their nodes of operations. Guyo is the supremo and is the self proclaimed governor and speaker of the county government.
One wonders why and how this is possible given that Kananu and Badi are in position of control. As a woman we’re told she’s scared of Guyo and follows her commands, you can remember she was also fingered with Guyo in a Covid19 supply scandal. As for Badi, the two are bound by religion ties which has made them get along well giving Guyo to go about his deals with Badi looking the other way conveniently.
Despite the county drowning in debts and getting dragged in courts, Kananu under siege of cartels has been approving misuse of funds. Kenya Insights is informed that MCAs are flying out of the country on a weekly basis for unwarranted international trips costing taxpayers hundreds of millions.
In a bizarre move, we’re informed of a trip earlier this year where the budget committee traveled to Turkey to hold a board meeting there on how to plan the budget and pay pending bills. We’re adequately informed that the weekly trips of committee members mostly to Dubai cost Sh1M for each member. This is the new way of stealing and scheme of Guyo and cartels to buy loyalties of the MCAs who’re not willing to lose the privileges and will support any duty paper tabled in the assembly.
EACC should investigate this fraud scheme.
In the subsequent article, we will expound how an elaborate scheme to take over Nairobi by the cartels for the final eating after NMS term expires has been drawn. The plan that includes returning embattled Jacob Ngwele who by the way is billing city hall for his frivolous court cases and how his case in the court of appeal that is being handled by a former city hall staff now with judge Warsame is being mishandled and the judge swallowed in the scam. We expound on how the current acting clerk is related to the disgraced clerk Ngwele and generally the spirited effort behind bringing Ngwele back as championed by Guyo.
The silence from NMS is by design, we’re informed that a senior NMS official has his mouth shut given that he bought a petrol station franchise that is on a rapid expansion across the country and linked to land grabbing. We shall tell you more when the papers are right.
Kananu we’re informed is scared of getting impeached hence the soft hands on the cartels, unknown to her, she’s being fattened, handed scandals as she watches naively, and just like in Sonko’s she’ll be thrown under the bus and live in courts very soon.
”Ann Kananu is sonko but in a woman form.” Concluded a City Hall source speaking to Kenya Insights.
In what is really not shocking, sources intimate with the matter have revealed to Kenya Insights that some powerful individuals within the government secretly facilitating the return of 1xbet and believed Russian mafias/fraudsters linked to the controversial betting firm banned from operating the country.
The two blacklisted foreigners have been walking in town with their chins up and chests out bragging how untouchable they’re are and the millions they spent to bribe state officials to facilitate their return into the country following the unceremonious deportation.
The notorious Artur Mildov and his partner Vadim Mildov who are emerging to be the 1xbet point-men in the region are said to be working round the clock to ensure that the gambling firm makes a comeback in Kenya.
1xbet is among the betting firms that were severely affected in the historic crackdown on foreigners gambling without licenses in the country. Artur and Vadim names prominently featured in the list of at least 14 foreigners mainly from Eastern Europe who were deported.
The Mildovs who’re on Interpol watch over their links to international crimes are said to have stayed in Dubai where they were cooking their heels while strategizing on their coming back into the country.
1XBet owners operated as ghosts for long before investigations by Russian authorities cracked the racket and exposed one Sergey Karshkov, an ex-police major in Russia alongside Russian billionaire Roman Semiokhin and Dmitry Kazorin in 2020.
On the website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Bryansk branch, Roman Semiokhin, Dmitry Kazorin and Sergey Karshkov are named as suspects who organized and conducted gambling without a local license for 1xBet. The website notes that they were investigated for the period of October 2014 to May 2019, and during that period “obtained income in the total amount of more than 63 billion rubles ($860 million).”
All three are noted to be residents of Bryansk, and Sergei Karshkov previously worked with the police, obtaining the rank of Major. But in 2015, he reportedly registered a non-profit called the Union of Sweepstakes Organizers as well as the Union of Bookmakers. Both were liquidated by court decisions in 2018 for failing to publish records.
The three fled Cyprus to avoid Russian prosecution after they were linked to a string of dubious activities.
Artur Mildov.
Kenya Insights has learnt that the betting firm is not authorized for gambling in Russia by the Russian Federal tax service, as with many other countries.
Following an investigation by a UK publicationThe Sunday Times in 2019, 1xbet license was promptly rescinded by the UK gambling commission (UKGS) after revelations of involvement in promoting a pornography hub, bets on children sports and adverting on illegal website.
None of this sounds like something you want to be affiliated with your brand. 1xBet is a betting site registered in Cyprus, which is well-known as a money-laundering location for organized crime in Russia. While sure, that could be a coincidence, but considering the previous investigation into 1xBet, it doesn’t sound like it is. After that Times investigation, the betting site is no longer allowed to operate in Britain. In Kenya they were accused of engaging in large scale tax evasion and money laundering as well.
As the 1xbet retains its reputation as one of the world’s most controversial betting firms, awareness was raised in 2020 of an ongoing scam involving embezzlement and unlawful practice, highlighting attention through diplomatic channels.
The three owners Karshkov, Semiokhin and Kazorin are in the list of UK wanted criminals.
The trio is defendants in a criminal case with penalty of imprisonment and a number of their estates in Russia with a total value of 1.5 billion ruble (ksh 2, 286,508,500.00) were seized.
At the height of controversies shrouding the firm, Tottenham also terminated their betting deal with them just weeks after it was suspended in Kenya.
Prior to the termination of the deal, 1xbet was Tottenham’s African betting partner and part of the agreement was to allow them use huge billboards with England captain Harry Kane and other spurs players in the African country , where gambling became a massive social issue.
Apart from Kenya, other countries that banned 1xbet are UK,USA, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Burkina Faso, Israel, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Poland, Netherlands and Belgium.
It remains unclear whether KRA was aware that the 1xbet was plotting to make a comeback into the market.
However, what is raising further concern is the fact that the two partners Artur and Vadim who operate like mafias sneaked back into the country despite talks that they were deported.
A background check on the two exposes a string of questionable involvement including operating an offshore company.
They are the directors and shareholders of the Midlands logistics Limited traced to the British Virgin Islands and Russia.
Artur Mildov is also described as the CEO of De lart holding which was established in 1996 and operates in United Arabs and Africa.
The duo also operated an airline in Congo.
They were listed as interested parties in a case before the High court of Kenya at Nairobi commercial and admiralty division Milimani law courts.
The civil suit no.568 of 2008 also listed Terazzo enterprises Limited as the plaintiff against Pavement Club and Café which was the 1st defendant.
Blue elephant Limited was the 2nd defendant in the matter while Shailesh Patel was listed as the 3rd defendant.
The two were also implicated in the murder of a Russian.
One thing which is clearly outstanding with Artur Mildov and his partner Vadim Mildov is the striking similarity between them and the infamous Artur brothers whose stay in the country caused a stir.
The two controversial Armenian Artur Magaryan and Artur Sargasyan landed in Nairobi in 2006 with lots of fanfare but ended up being branded a security threat before they were dramatically kicked out of the country.
Kenya Insights is informed that this is not the first time the two have been deported and sneaked back into the country. In what could show how deeply entrenched the mafia web is and their connections to high officers facilitating their stay in Kenya. The Russians were once deported following their links to narcotic trade, sneaked back and continued with their trade in 2004. This only goes to show you that the mafias are being protected by rogue state officials in the intricate. It goes to show the confidence behind the open impunity.
Kenya should not harbor criminals, 1XBet which is likely a shadow of a larger money laundering scheme shouldn’t be allowed back into the market something they can ei by simply rebranding. Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, CS immigration and the Police IG Mutyambai should take the matter serious and immediately hunt and apprehend the criminals residing in the country. State officers involved in facilitating the return of the Russian mafias need to be brought to book.
An advertisement dated Thursday, August 26, Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) indicated that the bureau was looking to hire 101 individuals to occupy various posts.
They included an inspection manager and a principal office administrator at the managerial level. Civil engineers, electrical engineers, pharmacists and mechanical engineers.
The process has however come back to haunt the management with MD Bernard Njiraini and Principal Secretary Amb. Kirimi Kaberia taking the big chunk of blame for playing dirty in the recruitment process.
According to an anonymous letter sent to Kenya Insights and copied to other bodies by aggrieved staff, the recruitment process was largely flawed by the management. The staff are petitioning for an open recruitment process. Below is the letter.
With the re-establishment of the East African Community (EAC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), KEBS activities now include participation in the development and implementation of SMCA activities at the regional level where it participates in the harmonization of standards, measurement of conformity assessment regimes for regional integration. KEBS operates the National Enquiry Point in support of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).
We are here to report recruitment malpractices at the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
KEBS advertised 109 positions in the month of September 2021. The deadline for submitting applications was 10.09.2021.
What happened is that the MD (Lt. Col (Rtd) Njiraini) took upon himself to invite the Ministry of Trade and Enterprise Development to be part of the shortlisting and interviewing process. This has never happened before because KEBS recruitments have always been transparent and very objective.
We are made to understand this was done because of the directives from the Principal Secretary Amb. Kirimi Kaberia who is set to run for a political seat therefore he wants to use the employments to reward his political supporters in his village in Meru). Not only have that, the MD himself Mr. Njiraini wants to employ his county political associates for himself and for his friends.
The Principal Secretary State Department of for Industrialization Amb. Kirimi Kaberia.
The MD flouted all the recruitment processes in KEBS overlooking the committee which is charged with the responsibility of all recruitment and instead appointed his spanner boys who do all his dirty jobs.
Below are the names for the so-called shortlisting committee
Murira- this is a Director who was appointed irregularly as a reward to Meru community. This is the man who has set up the whole process. First, he is not a member of the committee and he was appointed to chair the panel. He is been tasked to ensure the interest of the PS. Ambassador Kaberia, Board chair and the larger Meru interests are taken care of at the expense of other applicants.
Kirimi is the mastermind of all the rumours and gossip in KEBS. He is the one in charge of the recruitment system and has ensured he tampered with the system. He gets information from the system and calls people demanding for money in return of recruitment. He is boasting all over that people should know that there are Meru’s at KEBS.
Abdow- this is one of the most corrupt officers in KEBS. The MD uses him to carry out his dirty jobs at KEBS. He got in irregularly and has caused a lot of chaos in HR department since he joined the organization.
Njeru- this is the officer from the Ministry ensure that all Mt. Kenya applicants specifically Gatundu, Meru and Embu are given the jobs.
Miriam- this a very new Director and does not understand the malpractices in KEBS especially recruitments- she is a coverup to cheat the rest of us that the process is fair.
The question is what is going to happen to the rest of Kenyans who have applied if this is what is happening?
We understand there are internal employees who could have benefited from the recruitment but the advert was advertised externally so that it is used for political gains.
According to Public Service Commission and KEBS HR policies, there is a committee charged with advising the MD in all recruitment process and the same has been completely ignored in this particular recruitment.
The MD (Mr. Njiraini has completely run down KEBS since he joined KEBS in 2019. In fact he has been arrested in the past due to corruption. He is still in office courtesy of his godfathers. This MD became MD although he was number six during the interviews)
We have written to your good office so that you can intervene by having the recruitment process stopped or cancelled until the MD appoints credible people to drive the process.
This process is highly compromised, the end result is to benefit Mr. Kaberia (PS), Mr. Njiraini (MD), KEBS Board chair, HOD-HR and his woria friends in KEBS and outside KEBS.
We are, once again, appealing to your good office to intervene by having this process stopped or cancelled altogether. As we are writing the same corrupt team is carrying out short listing.
Njiraini has been exposed on corruption in this site many times.
In October, 2020 last year – Kebs was stopped from expanding a vehicle inspections tender following queries around the process.
Parliament adopted a committee report that seeked to have Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) Managing Director Bernard Njiraini held responsible for litigation that could arise from a controversial tender.
Njiraini was arrested for refusing to give EACC detectives original documents related to multimillion-shilling tenders the commission is investigating.
Njiraini was arrested as a penal consequence for failing to comply with a notice issued to him to surrender the documents.
EACC had been investigating allegations of procurement irregularities and payment of bribes in respect of awards for tenders for provision of pre-export conformity of goods, used motor vehicles, mobile equipment and spare parts by Kebs.
The Public Investments Committee (PIC) recommended punishment for Mr Njiraini and the procurement team at Kebs for alleged impropriety in awarding a pre-export verification tender. The National Assembly adopted the report that recommended that the top officer at the state agency be surcharged in the event bidders challenged the award.
The watchdog committee chaired by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir also recommended that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission probe the circumstances under which Kebs engaged blacklisted firms, EAA Company Ltd and Auto Terminal Japan.
The Auditor-General had in a special audit recommended that the two firms be barred from engaging in such tenders. But the agency went ahead to engage them in its bid to have more firms inspect vehicles being imported into the country.
In reference to the recruitment process, KEBS has issued a rebuttal to the claims raised by the staffers in the anonymous mail. While replying to the consumer body Cofek, Kebs management and by reflex, are denying any wrong doing in the recruitment.
They said in part “the shortlisting committee for this recruitment was duly appointed in line with its internal processes and the KEBS Human Resources Policy. The ministry of industrialization, trade and enterprise development is the parent ministry (the ministry) to KEBS and is therefore engaged and consulted by KEBS as and when necessary, In this case, the ministry is providing technical and professional human resources support during the recruitment process.”
Section 5 of the Standards Council Act which establishes KEBS only requires KEBS Council to consult with the ministry on the appointment of the director (CEO/MD) of KEBS, not the rest of the staff.
1) The Minister shall, on the advice of the Council, by notice in the Gazette, appoint a Director of the Bureau who shall be the chief executive officer of the Bureau.
(2) The Council shall, after consultation with the Director, appoint such members and staff of the Bureau as the Council may deem necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Bureau under this Act.
While replying to Keb’s rebuttal, the consumer body has further poked holes in the denying statement.
”It is not clear why the ministry and or principal secretary, who sits on the Standards Council, will still have himself and or a nominee on shortlisting committees for internal and or externally advertised jobs. Cofek equally remains a stranger to the KEBS Human Resources Policy – where no specific section was quoted in the KEBS generic response – that was more of a veiled threat than the salient information sought.“
We’ve also learnt that Kebs threatened Cofek to pull down article they had posted earlier on the recruitment petition claiming it had dealt them an unstated disrepute. Suspiciously, they want article taken down without convincing evidence that it was malicious, this is a common threat from corrup leaders who want to hide information from the public and continue operating in secrecy.
Cofek has refused to give into their demands, “
KEBS is a key consumer protection agency. Its a primary partner to Cofek. Recruitment of its’ human resources is, therefore, a critical component of consumer protection. It cannot be gainsaid. Again, in light of Article 10 and especially 35 of the Constitution, information held by government and required in the public interest ought to be released to the public. It is the legitimate expectation that KEBS will provide the required full information.” The body stated.
Peptang maker Premier Foods, inspired by homemade ‘dawa‘, a herbal drink Kenyans enjoy to treat common flu, has introduced a new beverage, eyeing the market also served by restaurants.
The firm launched its latest product dubbed Recharge Dawa that will be on sale in supermarkets.
Dawa, which means medicine in Kiswahili, is made up of honey, lemon and ginger as its key ingredients.
“Recharge Dawa drink contains all the ingredients used by locals; ginger a natural antioxidant, lemon rich in Vitamin C and great for detoxing, and honey a good source of antioxidant,” Premier Foods CEO Joseph Choge said.
“Unlike the homemade drink that one has to drink hot, this one is already packaged for you and is readily available in the market,” he added.
Mr Choge noted that dawa has the health benefits of soothing sore throats, flu or colds, and added that the new product is a good example of listening to the market and moving with the times.
However, the Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) has trashed the drink and advertisement as deceptive.
“The ‘medicine’ has not be certified as such by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board. Therefore, the use of the name ‘dawa’ (Swahili for medicine) is fatally misleading. It must be dropped. Even if it were to be certified, the minimum ingredients threshold must be specified and met.” Cofek said.
The popular ‘dawa’ that contains lemon, ginger and honey is served hot at restaurants, hotels and even bars – on request.
Normally, the lemon, ginger and honey are natural and not processed.
The popular ‘dawa’ drink retails between an average Sh100 to Sh1,000 per glass in high-end hotels.
Served cold, the ‘dawa’ does not serve it purpose at all. It is also not clear whether the deceptive marketing brand Recharge Dawa to be sold in supermarkets requires a consumer to boil before use.
The body is now asking authorities not to allow the drink to be on the shelves without doing the due diligence for the protection of consumers who’d fall for the ‘deception’
“In the likely event that the new Recharge Dawa was boiled before packaging, it has a high risk of being carcinogenic (cancer-causing) since it is stored in plastic bottles whose internal walls melt and dissolve in the drink if packed hot. Cofek hopes that the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) will conduct due diligence before allowing the drink to be on retail shelves. While we support Premier Foods efforts in product diversification, its management must be brought to speed with provisions of Article 46 of the Constitution and the Consumer Protection Act, 2012 as regards deceptive advertising.” Cofek said.
