Category: Investigations

In 2015, KPLC elevated its wholly owned school, Kenya Power Training School to the Institute of Energy Studies and Research (IESR), to “provide training solutions for the power sector in the areas of generation, transmission, distribution and inter-connectivity”.

The Institute of Energy Studies and Research is a Regional Centre of Excellence in Energy Training and Capacity Building. The institute offers Professional courses to corporate organizations, private companies and contractors in the fields of Energy, Electrical, Mechanical, Fiber Optics and Management. The Institute also offers tailor made courses in any topic within the fields.

The KPLC owned institute is registered as a Technical Industrial and Vocational Education Institution offering skills aimed at realizing the vision 2030.

Those who scored D+ and below have a chance to join craft certificate courses at IESR before advancing to diploma level. Form four leavers, regardless of grades, can be trained as Eletrical Wireman in a course that takes three months.

The government had announced that learners in technical and vocational institutions will receive as much as Sh40,000 loans annually from the Higher Education Loans Board.

The government also to provide a Sh30,000 capitation for each TVET trainee. It reduced the annual training fee from Sh92,000 to Sh56,420.

TVET institutions have 382,000 learners. Together with new applicants, they will have their fees fully covered. However, here’s where the challenge with IESR which is registered as TVET comes in.

Government sponsored students sent to the institution under the Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Services (KUCCPS) should be subject to the benefits above as opposed to privately sponsored meaning they’re to pay partially part of the fees. This is not the case on IESR as Kenya Insights has learnt.

The Kenya Power owned college is forcing Government Sponsored students to the same amount of fee as Self Sponsored students. That is 104 k per year. They are saying there is no difference between government and self sponsored students. Puzzling that they’re running the Programme in two modules.

The government has subsidized the fee of Government Sponsored students by Sh.30, 000 meaning, the maximum fee that each government sponsored students must pay is Sh50, 000 why do they keep insisting the Sh100, 000 and why does the institution claim to be privately owned yet it’s publicly listed? Dr Patrick Mwangi the deputy director of IESR should be answerable.

Not unless the institution is not getting the TVET fundings then it doesn’t make absolute sense why KUCCPS students should pay the same fee as private even in public universities it doesn’t work that way.

Vacational courses and TVET programs are out in place to help even the poorest students gain right education and experience and by locking out some given the high fees is unfair. The ministry must therefore move with speed to find out what’s going on in this school and if determined as a scamming scheme then respective actions be taken.

 

Not unless you’re one of the most informed Kenyans upto date with the details, the name Humphrey Kariuki Ndegwa would easily pass as any other Kikuyu name. For those in the know, here’s one of the top most wealthiest Kenyans with a twisted profile.

When he was asked By Forbes who described him as   The Kenyan multi millionaire preserving endangered animal species, he said, ”I would like to be remembered for doing my own bit in preserving Kenya’s wildlife.”

Humphrey acquired 1,216 acres of rough marginal rangeland surrounding the Mount Kenya Safari Club and started the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy and Animal Orphanage With American partners, creating a successful method of rehabilitation and release of wildlife. Here, they’re taking care of injured animals, rehabilitating them and releasing them into their natural habitat. Tens of thousands visit the ranch annually.

Since acquiring the Animal Orphanage from its American owners years ago, Ndegwa has spent a fortune providing shelter and professional care to orphaned, injured, neglected, abused or frightened wild animals, with the goal to releasing them back into the wild where they belong.

Modest in his personal life, calm in his demeanor, but audacious in business, Ndegwa has built a business conglomerate that includes The Hub – a premier shopping mall located in the beautiful leafy suburbs of Karen in Nairobi; Africa Spirits, Kenya’s leading manufacturer of Alcoholic beverages; this is the company selling popular brands like Blue Moon Vodka, Legend Brandy which are successful products.

Ndegwa owns Dalbit Petroleum, one of the largest oil distributors in East and Southern Africa, and Great Lakes Africa Energy, a U.K-based company that is a developer and operator of power projects in Southern Africa. Ndegwa is also the owner of the 5-star Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, and the neighboring Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy and Animal Orphanage.

Alcohol business has been one of Humphrey’s favorite ventures, perhaps given the fact that Kenya is a drinking nation and such an industry is guaranteed to make food returns. Premium alcohol manufacturers are among the beneficiaries of increased spending on luxury goods and services by the country’s rich and middle class and this why he tapped in.

Established 46 years ago by Mr. Kishorilal Sahni, Securex Agencies Limited is one of the major security providers in the region. The firm has presence in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia in the East African region, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal in Central and West Africa.

Securex imports, assembles, installs and distributes security equipments ranging from electric fences, turnstiles and bollards for one’s perimeter security, walk-through and hand-held metal detectors and baggage scanners for security screening, alarm transmitters, CCTV and access control systems. Services offered include guarding, with a guard force that is 6,000-strong in the region. Besides, protection and explosive detection dogs as well as risk consultancy and training services are also provided.

With 48 years roots in the industry, this one of the most preferred security companies with elite clientele and highly preferred regionally.

However, with such a glittering profile, there’s a dark state of guards whom we gather are dejected and demoralized from the peanuts pay they’re getting. Kenya Insights was approached by a number of disgruntled guards who’re at the verge of downing their tools from the harsh employment grounds.

As a policy, the company recruits new guards who’re then put under a probation for months and within this period which shouldn’t go beyond three months ideally, the new entrants are paid a lower amount than those whom have been confirmed.

Anyway, Kenya Insights learns that the company has a contract with its guards that they’re put on a one year probation where they’re paid a meagre monthly salary of Sh12,000 and sometimes they get as low as Sh10,000, they’re employed as casuals called Deltas. On confirmations, you’re permanently employed and salary goes up to Sh20,000.

Honestly, at such a tough economic times, paying someone such an amount for instance in Nairobi is the height of capitalism and to an extent, slavery. You can be certain the clients who’re charged per guard are probably billed double the amount the amount they’re paid, this has been a norm in many of these security firms. We’re told Securex charges clients about Sh43,000 for every guard yet pay them  Sh12,000 per guard, surely, this is a cruel slavery state.

What is not making sense to us and where the MD, Tony Sahni should explain how and why there are guards who’ve been on probation for more than a year without confirmations as stipulated in the agreement? Is this deliberately done by Mr. Sahni to suckle and enslave the guards who by bureaucracy can’t voice their concerns for their fear of being slashed out of employment.

Can Mr. Sahni explain why for instance there are guards who were recruited in January last year haven’t been confirmed yet and we’re already in August which means seven months past the agreed one year probation window period. This contravenes the contracts agreements.

With a dejected guard force who’s efforts aren’t recognized and appreciated by a deserved step of confirmation after probation and with the low pay, it can only mean one thing. A demoralized workforce that now puts the security and safety of clients at a risk. There have been many cases of guards in Kenya collaborating with criminals to target their clients and poor pay are some of the factors that have been proven as contributors to such acts.

What are the sureties that Mr. Sahni can give his clients that with these wretched guards, their safety is guaranteed and that they might not engage in other criminal activities to sustain their lives? The question many of these unconfirmed guards are asking is whether they’ll get upgraded or if the company is going to ignore and keep them in the same zone of destitute. General concern is how the company guarantees quality services to clients with such a poorly maintained workforce.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations on Friday conducted a swop that nubbed nineteen Nigerian citizens residing in Umoja, Kasarani and Roysambu Estates within Nairobi for engaging in electronic fraud targeting Kenyans.

To many who know the operations of these guys, this is a no shocker, Nigerians like Chinese nationals have flooded the country, they’re all over Eastlands, it is so real that Roysambu is being referred to as Nigeria ndogo given the huge number of them residing there.

Most of these people don’t have any known jobs but are all over Nairobi high end clubs living lavishly but the unsaid truth is mostly they make their money through Internet fraud, gold scamming, drug trafficking and so many other fraud schemes. This is the only unmentioned fact.

In this particular case, the fraudster  start by befriending you on social media(Facebook) they largely target the women most of whom are fascinated and lose their breath on the mention and sight of a Nigerian man and once you accept the friend request they initiate a friendly chat that promises the victim goodies to be sent through DHL at the airport. Our winds love goodies so it makes them easier targets.

The following day a call will be made and someone will pretend to be an attendant at the DHL office, they’ll even attach photos of said gift wrapped showing the DHL logo on the tape. They will tell the victim to pay clearance fees for the same parcel they claim to have sent you.

Immediately you send the money through Mpesa another call is made requesting for some more money for other documentation and taxes. After paying the dues demanded, your calls demanding for your parcel will not be picked. That’s the time you realize that you have been conned. This is therefore to warn members of the general public against such fraudsters.

Like many other conmen, their schemes keep mutating and one can never know how they’ll be hit. Cybercrime remains one of challenges Kenya’s challenges. In East Africa, Kenya recorded the highest losses $171 million to cyber criminals. Tanzania lost $85 million while Ugandan companies lost $35 million. Over one-third of organisations that experienced a breach in 2016 reported substantial customer, opportunity and revenue loss of more than 20 percent, this according to Cisco 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report.

Kenyan bank accounts are more prone than ever to cybercrime owing to the growing use and adoption at risk. This statement has been evidenced by statistics present in the recent Kenya Cybersecurity Report , published by Serianu Limited and which asserts that Kenya lost about $175million last year.

Moreover, the Report managed to establish that cybercriminals are deliberately targeting the Kenyan digital economy with the intention of wreaking havoc and making away with millions. Essentially, in terms of cyber resilience, the Kenyan digital economy can be likened to a slow, plump gazelle stumbling through the “cyber-savannah” in the full view of agile, informed and hungry cyber-predators keen to sink their teeth into their sumptuous prize.

A question hangs over the surging influx of not just Nigerian nationals in Kenya but many immigrants which points at a loophole in the immigration that’s allowing all Yahoo! boys into Nairobi. Back home the Internet scamming is well known now they’re transferring their activities to Kenya.

You’ll find them living in dozens in bed sitters. They’re smooth with women and Nairobi women lose their cool wen it comes to Naija men, with their illusory lives, they give these women the impression of being wealthy while the truth always awaits them. women are counting losses in silence this side of Sahara.

With their charming nature, they’ve targeted Nairobi women desperate for love and not only used them for shelter but scammed them of millions in the my cargo is coming loan me clearance money and many other schemes they engage. While it’s not my work to tell our women who to date and not, do a little bit of background check on these men before you end up being arrested for being a beneficiary of criminal proceeds and most cases get entangled in a drug trafficking racketeering. They promise them heaven while themselves are hell residents.

A serious vetting of immigrants is needed in this country since a good number are illegally living in Kenya and Thanks to corruption, they keep having their ways and they keep disrupting our economies. Kenya is exporting best minds to the world yet importing scammers. Most of these guys come on s tourist visa and manage to buy their ways around.  If there’s a place that SANY need to drive to next then it’s Roysambu and generally the illegal immigrants buildings.

Born in 2006, Cheryl Akinyi’s life was disrupted on the 21st of June 2018 and completely cut on the 1st day of August.

Her’s, the world was a cruel space. Everything conspired against her. Repeatedly sexually abused by a neighbor well known to her but not until the damage was so gross such that the pains and bruises could talk. Forced to live on drugs at a tender age and be in courts to seek justice for the injustices metted against her by a man she knew as a family friend.

On 30/7/2018, was her second day in courts inquest of justice. She was brave, she was strong willed, she opened up to what life has been to her albeit in silence. Her consistency in the ordeals showed a child who was deeply looking for a safe space to speak. She was very hopeful that she will live to see justice done and feel cared for and loved, unfortunately, those were her last 48hrs of breath and peace.

Sadly, two days later, her body would be found dumped few meters from a place she called home cold, motioneless and lifeless on the morning of 1/8/2018. Her hopes to see justice day squeezed.

The last ten days has been quite an experience, coming face to face with real heartless humans, the real face of a beastly acts and how underlying cultural narratives can conspire against an innocent child.

The question remains who killed Baby Cheryl and what was the motive as the defilement suspect was in the confines of a police cell?

Could this be a case of eliminating witness to subvert justice? Why wasn’t she put on witness protection? If can be proven then the suspect ought to be double charged with murder. This cold blood slaughtering must not go unpunished and one can only hope the police gathered enough evidence to trail and nail the cruel killers who terminated the life of Cheryl at such a minor age. It’s over to the ODPP and I ask Noordin Haji to secure justice to the young girl snatched her life and everything in the most cruel way.

As we continue to talk about corruption in public sector, but even worse is corruption in the private sector. One such company is Britania Foods Ltd which now is the epitome of corruption in the FMCG sector.

Top Britania Foods executives and employees are living in fear over CEO Robert Kagundah’s cowboy management style, Kenya Insights has learned. It is unclear how Kagundah got his job as CEO, a role he wasn’t qualified for and too junior for it

He was previously at Coca Cola as HoD. Former colleagues at Coca Cola describe him as a serial womanizer. Several top employees have been fired for crossing his line while he continues to mismanage the company.

Britania Foods Limited workers have accused the top management of irregularly running the company that was in 2017 acquired by Nairobi-based private equity firm Catalyst Principal Partners.

Robert Kagundah is involved in corruption scandals where he reportedly awards contracts to those close to him. Among many others, Kagundah awarded a catering and cake supply contract to CIVA cakes, owned by his girlfriend who is a married woman Cynthia B. Orenge

Britania has been hosting birthday parties for unsuspecting social media parents who apply for their kids. Unknown to them, the cakes and set-up are awarded to CEO Kagundah’s girlfriend Cynthia Orenge, at an inflated cost of Ksh 200,000 per birthday

To further deflate the company, Kagundah made plans to have the birthdays done weekly so his married woman lover can pocket Ksh 800,000 monthly. What is more shocking is the company last year had a severe case of food poisoning experienced by most staff, after consuming the cakes

Britania is fully owned by Catalyst Principal Partners after being purchased in early 2017 from the Dawda family. Our sources indicate that cooked books may have been used to dupe Catalyst into buying the loss-making company

By the time Catalyst found out, it was too late. Cyprian Nyakundi was first to inform the public about corruption at Britania. CEO Robert Kagundah and his sales manager, happen to be best friends, forming an axis of acute corruption that no one at the company can stand up to.

The plan involves working in cahoots with distributors, to dupe the board and management that they are meeting sales targets.

A distributor would for example order biscuits worth Ksh 10 million, and Elijah and his team would report that figure has been met, regardless of whether the distributor sells or not. The distributor would then return back the stock after about three months, very close to the expiry date.

Britania hence ends up losing tens of millions every quarter, and rumors are that Kagundah is paid handsome amounts in kickbacks together with Sales Director Elijah Maina.

Things are so bad, Britania is trying to get into the crisps business, which in itself is shrouded in mystery after they launched a brand owned by the competitor Nuvita.

After spending millions in production costs, Britania was forced to destroy crisps it had produced when Nuvita claimed to own the same biscuit. How a corporate like Britania could miss the most basic step in a name search, ended costing the firm millions of shillings.

 

 

Aga Khan University Hospital remains the leading premium healthcare in the region a position it has retained over a lengthened period. Given it’s high standards, the hospital has remained the most preferred provider for the Kenyan elites. However, all that glitters is definitely not gold us our investigations have revealed.

The reputable hospital is sitting on a time bomb with a dejected staff who’re by design puting the lives of many patients who put their trust in the facility in grave danger. According to multiple sources we’ve been talking to during this investigation, the hospital which has long been run by the Ismaili Community is at it’s worse and most hostile state under the CEO Mr. Shawn Bolouki who is described as terrifically racist and mighty arrogant.

Bolouki has a stunning profile to hide the descriptions above, “Mr Shawn Bolouki has over twenty-five years of leadership experience in healthcare, and has ​during that time achieved major financial and operational successes in acute-care hospitals and medical care centres ranging in size from 120 to 1200 beds.” Reads the praises on him on the AGKUH website. “Mr Bolouki’s​ experience spans various hospital types, including academic, not-for-profit, faith-based, investor-owned and government hospitals, both individual and in comprehensive healthcare systems.” It continues.

Prior to joining Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Mr Bolouki was Chief Executive Officer for the Tulare Regional Medical Center (TRMC), Tulare, California, where he held executive leadership positions from the years 2008-2014. With a beaming CV, Bolouki has brought with him gloom to the Parklands based hospital.

According to sources and reports in our possession, the Hospital Management has gone on extreme by shedding off local staff and being replaced by foreigners. This is done in the guise of reshaping the  hospital. Just last year, about 400 staff members who had worked with the hospital some for decades were aced without notice not even a court interjection could stop this mass firing given the influence His Highness Aga Khan enjoys in the Goverment.

It emerged that posts created by the firing was filled by foreigners as that was the plan. Aga Khan is like ‘Islamabad’ one source describes the situation in the hospital. This is in reference to the high number of imported Pakistan nationals there. Majid Twahir, the Aga Khan Hospital medical doctor is roped in as one of the thorns that’s dragging the facility into its knees. He used to be a very good Doctor according to those who know him but once he got the post he turned his back on Kenyans and joined Bolouki in frustrating and blackmailing local doctors in their filthy racist cause.

A pattern has been drawn of inconsiderate firing of local doctors who’re immediately getting replaced by the foreign doctors. “Aga Khan is no longer what it used to be, things are at the worst, the doctors and staff here are just here not by heart but because they have bills to pay, Bolouki has made this place a living hell” one of my highly places sources at the hospital.

We’ve been informed of a pattern where by inexperienced and doubtful doctors are imported from Pakistan and Iran and quickly alley we nynrhe medical board which is another scandal altogether to replace local experienced doctors. We’re tild the management prefers the foreign naive doctors as they’re not as expensive and they don’t question the management, they prefer them that naive and enslaved.

Unmentioned exodus of experienced doctors has been undergoing at the hospital which is a cause for alarm, “Aga Khan is losing the best brains in the medical space because of hostile environment from the management” But the management under Bolouki arrogance doesn’t seem to give a damn. Aga Khan has been receiving several resignations but this hasn’t stopped Bolouki from running it like a school hostel.

“For them(Bolouki and his team) nothing matters to them than making money, now chances are when you’re admitted at the hospital you’ll be attended to by the residents(trainees) since most specialists are refusing to work with Aga Khan” another source confides in me.

Management of Aga Khan is the face of racism, nearly all departments and more so the strategic positions of financial flows are headed by the Wahindis, we’re told and collecting evidences that we will post in our subsequent expose how they’re also conspiring in defrauding the hospital through backdoor deals.

Positions that can be held by Kenyans are unnecessarily given foreigners for instance, the Head of Security, surely, you want to tell me there are no qualified Kenyans to effectively run that docket? But the favoritism doesn’t stop at that, Mr Khurram (Pakistani) now heads Budget and Planning department which was previously headed by Peter Maina. Prof Ojwang has been displaced at the Pathology department Prof Zul and Moloo while Pharmacy department now has 4 foreigners (Zyaid, Raza, Flakana and Zurndiji) replacing Joyce Nduati. Engineering department is now headed by Zaaker Ian replacing David Kimeu.

Prof Raja head of surgery is also frustrating manu surgeons  & he’s got his own puppet young & very good upcoming doctor but he is destroying his reputation. Finance is Aleem Merali, Radiology is headed by Dr Vinayak a Pakistani who we learn recently made a good radiologist leave the department.

Vinayak is also a business man and one of those under our probe for subsequent release on insider dealings. IT department is run by Tarun Aron, this chap doesn’t  even understand Swahili & his English is zero, how he got such a job leading giant geeks around is a result of the racism at the institution.

Believe it or not, Aga Khan is understaffed, as a business strategy, a big part of the work force was laid off and the few remaining are overworked, overwhelmed, doctors and staff at Aga Khan are working like stages in the cotton field with harshest conditions.

Staff are not allocated leave in some departments and some don’t even get to have lunch breaks because of many patients and minimal staff. The staff don’t find time to rest, many are working around the clock, I don’t need to go to the consequences of a fatigued doctor and other medical staff while we have Kenyatta National Hospital to tell us clearly on negligence. We also have negligence allegations on Aga Khan but currently under review, we will publish on verification.

Mass exodus of experienced doctors who’re now going to full private practice is real, this you can confirm from anyone in the healthcare scope. Mr Bolouki and his arrogance is running the hospital down, many of longtime clients and the general good perception of the hospital from the experienced doctors is what keeps them going but if this is replaced then patients will follow their doctors.

The harsh realities that are deeming the shine of Aga Khan might not reach His Highness the Aga Khan who only get to see the financial reports so the dejected staff who holds the future of the hospital go unchecked. Bolouki prefers to work with the naive and easy to manipulate staff who take his commands without a question mark.

The staff might deliver because of the nature of their work but the word that may reach His Highness the Aga Khan is his staff is completely demoralized and Bolouki isn’t stopping anytime soon so this means the patients are being handled by shaky, tired hands. No one is ready to face such hands. Medical staff have Cover limits, we’re tild you must get clearance from Majid Twahir, the medical doctor before given medication and staff limited to Sh50,000 limit for outpatients goes to show how enslaved the staff are.

Racism and overflowing of foreigners at Aga Khan must be checked before we let a lose system take away all the jobs for Kenyans. Aga Khan has the space to shut down Kenyan facilities and move the Islamabad if they only want to work with Pakistani and Iranian nationals. However, the Goverment and immigration department must without hesitation, jump to audit the Aga Khan foreign staff who’re being imported to take over positions that could otherwise be held by Kenyans.

If this is overlooked and the colored are favorited at the expense of locals then the Goverment would’ve failed in securing the interests of its own citizens and opening the space for manipulation, we already have information and pursuing for publication similar racism and mistreatment of local staff on Coptic,Guru Nanak.

Immigration must vet and withdraw work permits and consequently deport foreign nationals in Aga Khan imported as expatriates on positions that can be held and work done by Kenyans. This is a serious concern that must not pass the officials who also happen to be Aga Khan Hospital clients. The President must support this as he champions for the development and security of jobs for Kenyans.

Starting with Aga Khan and the rest of such, the authorities must help in securing the opportunities for Kenyans or there will be no country for our own professionals. The UK recently opened the doors for doctors removing visa limits. As we import doctors from Cuba and Pakistan to Aga Khan, I predict a mass exodus of Kenyan bred specialists to the UK which will leave a great void in the healthcare.

And with an hostile environment existing at Aga Khan, doctors forced by circumstances to stay at the hospital will without a second guess jump the ship. For how long will Bolouki and the management, overlook the welfare of the staff at Aga Khan by being dismissive and defensive while the facts shows good doctors are leaving and only the residents are left to handle cases some of which are out of their scope. Why let mismanagement leave patients in the hands of trainees? The mighty Aga Khan University Hospital is losing its glory but who will help the sickening situation? Do we have your ears yet? The expose continues…

Fresh from its disgraceful failure to obtain rights to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (Australia) and the ongoing Russia 2018 World Cup, the management at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, appears set to reward Company Secretary and acting MD Paul Jilani by manipulating the recruitment process for the broadcaster’s Managing Director post advertised in May.  

Information leaked to the Weekly Citizen, reveals a scheme to undercut all top candidates in the current recruitment of a new MD. The post was left vacant when Waithaka Waihenya left the media house in October 2017 and was replaced by company secretary Paul Jilani in an acting capacity.

The management consulting recruitment process was awarded to scandal prone audit firm PricewaterhouseCooper. PWC as they are known, have in the last two years received bans in Japan, India, New Yorkfor manipulating information in collusion with various managers of firms they are contracted to audit.

According to the whistleblower who works at PWC, the process of recruitment for a new KBC Managing Director stopped being objective after the KBC Board led by Kennedy Imbwaya forced a 3 day extension to the Friday 25th May 2018 deadline earlier advertised.

“Once the deadline was extended to May 27th which is a Sunday, the backhand games began. It provided the window to isolate the strong candidates for undercutting and also open the back door for the board’s favourite candidate –Jilani. Inside PWC it is so obvious that this guy did not even rank within the top 5 candidates with regard to the experience and capacity we were looking for”

The shock announcement on 8th June that dismissed Sammy Itemere, as Principal Secretary Broadcasting & Telecommunications among 15 others, left the process without a clear hand to enforce the rules.

The KBC Board and MD appear to have seen the vacuum as an open chance to manipulate the process and issue “shortlisted” names directly to the ICT Cabinet Secretary Joseph Mucheru, without the due diligence scrutiny that would have been provided by the Broadcast PS. The process entails the board shortlisting, interviewing and presenting 3 names to the Broadcast PS who after scrutiny of process would present them to the Cabinet Secretary to make the final appointment.

Those in the know confide the current shenanigans are not really about Jilani but focused on having a person friendly to the Ruto 2022 Campaign. According to our source, Ruto’s camp is shopping for media outfits to enhance its 2022 campaign communications. Having elevated key allyFarida Karoney into the cabinet as Lands CS, the campaign team is concerned on their diminished influence at Royal Media Services where Karoney as COO gave the DP unfettered access to prime time TV.

Alongside the change of guard at Royal Media, the team has little influence at the Standard Group (owned by a hostile Moi Family) and the Nation Media Group (Controlled by pro Uhuru businessmen and partially the Kenyatta Family who recently bought a stake). While the DP bought 10% Mediamax which owns K24 TV, Kameme and the People newspaper, its influence and market share does not give him the controlling media presence he requires towards his 2022 Presidential bid.

As such, government funded KBC becomes a critical instrument to reach the grassroots and soften the 2022 battlegrounds. 

Ruto was recently reported to have also expanded his media empire by acquiring Xtra Publishing Ltd that will see the revival of XNews as a 42-page national free sheet newspaper. A TV station is also planned.

However, it is the ease with which the KBC scheme was executed that shows evidence of how seriously Ruto’s camp is exploiting gaps within the Jubilee administrationfor strengthen his bid.

According to the insider, with PS Itemere slated to leave on June 30, pressure was put on PWC to massage the shortlisting and make Jilani the front runner.

“We had to eliminate the strong candidates and put weak ones alongside their chosen candidate. The KBC Board and the MD promised our firm 3 years worth of auditing business in return for the manipulation”

According to a HR source inside KBC, a plan was hatched to conduct hurried interviews within days of producing the manipulated shortlist. The interviews of Jilani and the competing weak finalists were done without informing other applicants of their unsuccessful bids.

“The plan is to have Jilani appointed MD before the President appoints a new Broadcasting & Telecommunications Principal Secretary to replace Itemere. They know this guy can’t be picked ahead of the other candidates”

Moving the KBC Board to stealthily deploy a compliant MD is testimony of how well placed the DP’s allies are. Most people have little knowledge that Ms Farida Karoney who was recently appointed Lands CS still retains her seat on the KBC Board of Directors, having been appointed for a 3 year term in 2015 while still a manager at Royal Media.

It is possible the scheme may succeed as industry insiders allege CS Joe Mucheru practices a hands-off approach when it comes to the broadcasting side of his ministry and may not be familiar with the widespread financial and ethical mismanagement of what was once a shining institution.

A former senior manager at KBC now with rival Royal Media Services is convinced KBC is headed for potential collapse.

“The place lacks vision and no one is responsible for anything. No one gets fired for anything. At the helm of KBC is nothing but pure incompetence. KBC is on auto pilot and on its knees. Other than keeping their jobs, the current management appears to have given up any effort for meaningful change. It is almost impossible to figure out what KBC as an institution was actually founded to do”

By allowing Jilani and the KBC Board to “karate kid sweep from under” all the professionals willing to serve and offer value to KBC, PWC appears determined to emulate its other world branches who trade off professional ethics and sometimes engage in fraudulent behavior to obtain contracts from private and public institutions.

In January this year, PwC’s Indian unit was banned from auditing listed companies for two years, over one of the country’s biggest corporate scandals. Price Waterhouse was auditor for Satyam computers when company owner Ramalinga Raju admitted to inflating earnings in a $1.7bn (KShs 170 billion) fraud. The collapse of Satyam Computers in 2009 cost shareholders more than $2bn and rocked India’s IT industry.

In 2015, Kenyan accountants’ professional watchdog ICPAK investigated PWC Kenya as an accomplice to a Ksh 879.1 million accounting fraud at Chris Kirubi’s Haco Tiger Brands. Investigators questioned how PWC could have failed to detect the huge and illegal financial adjustments. PwC was Haco’s external auditor.

In 2017, PwC was cited in an (IRBA) investigation for its failure to disclose SA Airways (SAA) procurement failures while auditing its accounts . Still in South Africa, PwC had to pay KShs 1.5 billion to shareholders of looted Randgold & Exploration, a mining company for not disclosing auditing discrepancies that led to the collapse of the company.

A few years ago, PWC was fined $25m (KShs 2.5 billion) and banned from some consulting work for two years by New York State’s financial regulator because of misconduct during work at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.According to authorities, PWC secretly softened details of an oversight report about the bank it was assigned to monitor.

“When bank executives pressure a consultant (PWC) to whitewash a supposedly ‘objective’ report to regulators — and the consultant goes along with it — that can strike at the very heart of our system of prudential oversight,” Director Financial Services Superintendent Ben Lawsky said in a statement.

Hopefully EACC and ICT CS Joe Mucheru will intervene and nip this unfolding corporate schemes fraud that will sound a death knell to the little professionalism that remains at KBC, an institution that has birthed thousands of iconic broadcast figures.

Investigations into the billion shilling scam in the National Youth Service has yet been hit with a fresh twist with the chief investigator implicated in what seems like a business row.

In a sworn affidavit by Jeremiah Ngirita who is the elder brother, Jerricathy Enterprises that he represents is clean of any fraud deal. Jeremiah admits that he’s been actively engaged in business with NYS and then implicates the NYS CIO since 2014, Mike Julius Kingoo Muia as being his business partner. Jeremiah says he’s been supplying hardware and renovating facilities at NYS, Gilgil.

He goes ahead to give Muia’s Co-operative Bank of Kenya Account 01100079507100 in which he has made several payments to ascertain their unusual links. He claims that their business deals went sore and inline, Mr. Muia vowed to use his position as NYS CIO to fight the family. Four of the Ngirita family were arrested in the swap.

Jeremiah said Muia vowed to use his position to deal with the family and that before their arrest on May 26, the officer called a meeting with his two sisters at Rafiki Club on Langata Road in Nairobi.

“That at the meeting, Muia suggested that we should proceed to his residence and take refreshments, which we declined,” he claimed.

“That he then told us that he would take the statement of Ms Wambere Ngirita at his residence alone as they enjoy Black Label Whisky which we declined,” read the document.

Gichini further accused the police officer of making sexual advances on his sister.

“That on May 28, 2018, during the recording of statements, Mr Mike Julius Kingoo Muia assigned himself to write the statement of Ms Wambere and the said taking of statement lasted from 9am to 3pm where they constantly disagreed as a result of his sexual advances to her.”

With proof of bank slips attached as evidence in his affidavit, Jeremiah says they’ve been doing legitimate business with NYS and that the accusations brought before then are false and malicious and just as a result of business disagreement they had with Muia.

Jeremiah questions the credibility of the investigations by asking how the same detective entangled in a business deal gone sore and who has been consistently making sexual advances towards her sister Ann could also be allowed in the case as the chief investigator.

This creates a conflict of interest, and such interjection would turn the investigations either way. If Jeremiah’s affidavit can be written home then the word that all this is charade can be bought. Curiously, Muia has been the lead investigator on NYS since 2014 and had a business deal with NYS as a public servant this is criminal, what else could be under his sleeves? The Ngiritas and rest of suspects will know the fate of their bail terms tomorrow.

President Uhuru is said to have shaken off any friendly links that portrayed him as tolerant to corruption. For this purpose, Kenyans have experienced what one magistrate was overheard saying is the most vigorous and closest they’ve seen a government genuinely involved in nailing graft culprits. Corruption has been a menace in the last decade with projections by economist David Ndii saying that Kenyans have lost up to Sh1Trillion since Jubilee came into power, EACC put the figure at Sh600B as the annual amount lost to corruption. At a summit in Statehouse last year, the President was faulted for admitting helplessness in fighting corruption, a menace that has clouded his government and destroying many lives as days unroll.

Given this being his last term, President Uhuru has continued to show a different skin as he intensifies fight on corruption in a clear bid to sanitize his image and eventually leave an impacting legacy. He recently said he wouldn’t tolerate anyone not even his friends entangled in corruption deals. For the first time, Kenyans have gone closer to a fierce Uhuru in action with a whole PS Lillian Omollo and NYS Boss Ndubai thrown to jail over the Sh10B scam. Whether this is cosmetic or not, at least it sends a message that it’s not business as usual.

State corporations have become cash cows for corrupt politicians and their cronies and with loose ends in the system, we’ve had many people getting away with fraud. Billions are stolen and Kenyans taken through the same circle of inconsequential judicial razzmatazz. The quick and prompt coordination between the DCI and ODPP in the recent purge, shows a shift in paradigm and a sign that things might after all run as they should be.

Procurement departments in the government and state parastatals are known as citadels of sleaze, as many officers dish out lucrative contracts for inflated sums and receive huge kickbacks and for this reason, the President has closed down his face on the foundation of corruption. Officers in accounting will be subjected to lie detectors.

It has been established that for weeks now, the NIS has trained its sights on government departments and well-funded parastatals with budgets in the multi-billion shillings.

Some of the departments are essential to implement the Big Four Agenda — healthcare, manufacturing, food security and affordable housing — that the President is hoping will secure his legacy, with only four years before he leaves office.

President Uhuru is on record saying his topmost propriety of the four is healthcare and this can even be seen with the maintained recruitment into the National Hospital Insurance Fund including registration of 3M students into the scheme at a Sh4B deal. NHIF is strategically the top most important and heavily funded corporation that the president has to rely on in his delivery. However, all could not be merry given the current custodians of the office which has been ridden with corruption scandals in what has now become synonymous with the establishment.

Sometime in February, the state had launched investigations into the possible loss of more than Sh400 million paid out for a medical scheme for civil servants, police and prison officers. The National Hospital Insurance Fund paid two bidders against an order by the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board.

Britam Life Assurance Company (K) Ltd and Pioneer Assurance Company Ltd were awarded the tender, despite quoting high prices. Britam quoted Sh836,946,330 while Pioneer put its valuation at Sh852,284,830. The board had ruled that the award was irregular and ordered that NHIF contracts UAP Life Assurance Limited at its tender sum of Sh797,623,500.

The tender was for the provision of the Group Life Cover and last expense for civil servants, National Police Service and Kenya Prisons Service for the 2017-2018.

A big puzzle it has remained on the circumstances under which the tender was awarded to the two firms which had bid separately. Sh418.4 million had been paid as an advance before the award was canceled, questions which only the CEO Mwangi and the then chair Mohamud Ali who has since been replaced with Hannah Muriithi can answer.

Mr. Mwangi rushed to award a contract to two firms Britam and Pioneer despite them placing highest bids leaving out UAP that has the lowest bid. This rush as PPRB suspected, could have been ignited by possible cooperation between the CEO and the awarded companies.

Knowing how things run in Kenya, the 10% bug must have bitten the CEO to let go therefore flawed procurement regulations and irregularly granting wrong companies and taxpayers losing Sh400M in a selfish deal. NHIF did not safeguard the interests of the taxpayer by failing to get value for money when it awarded the tender.

Mr. Mwangi knowingly flawed contracting rules in awarding that tender, for instance, another issue is how Britam and Pioneer were awarded the tender as a single entity (at 52 percent and 48 percent respectively), despite having bid separately. There is no justification on why Pioneer, which bid Sh852 million, should have been awarded at a price quoted by Britam of Sh836 million.

The review board in a landmark ruling annulled the tender citing breach of several procurement laws. UAP was the lowest evaluated bidder at Sh797,623,500 while Britam and Pioneer submitted bids of Sh836,946,330 and Sh852,284,830 respectively.

The price difference between the sum at which the successful bidders were awarded the tender and that offered by the lowest bidder is approximately Sh40 million. Here’s a case that is costly and must never be let to catch dust like the rest. Detectives from NIS, DCI, EACC, and ODPP must swing into action and weed out the rogue elements at NHIF.

This is not an isolated case, another procurement scam under the nose of Mr. Mwangi had rocked NHIF a few months earlier pointing at a linear pattern of scams at the corporation. Mr. Mwangi has now become a marked man with the procurement authority with consistent complaints that led to PPARB canceling an NHIF tender because of irregularities, especially the variation of tender requirements to suit certain bidders.

On December 28, 2017, the board ruled that NHIF had acted illegally by varying requirements for a tender to provide emergency air rescue for civil servants, National Police Service and enhanced benefits scheme which Amref Flying Doctors had applied for.

In this case, NHIF canceled the first tender in November 2017 after Amref emerged as the sole bidder. The hospital Fund claimed that Amref had not met mandatory requirements.

However, Amref appealed the decision at PPARB saying the cancellation was made irregularly and that NHIF had significantly changed the requirements in the re-advertised tender with the sole aim of locking them out of the bid.

The review board agreed with Amref. “There is also a growing number of complaints that tender documents are prepared in the direction of a particular bidder,” said PPARB in their ruling.

As it comes out, there’s deliberate incompetence from the CEO and abuse of office which should concern the investigating authorities. If the President is to realize his dream of UHC then health care corruption prone departments must be cleaned. NHIF has been described as the NYS of healthcare and for this, all eyes must be turned on this.

The CS Sicily Kariuki is currently fighting accusations of foul play in the current NYS fiasco, and she needs to stay awake and focus on her ministry where a lot is cooking. Afya House scam is still fresh in mind, and this has affected millions of Kenyans.

Misappropriation of funds in public offices is costing many people their lives, and we want to believe that the current purge on corruption is not momentary, NHIF has been a cash cow for many, and stained officers like Mwangi need to be subjected to lifestyle audit and the rest of board members and generally, the house needs to be turned upside down. We’re calling upon all the agencies assigned in this fight to move with speed and investigate the many corruption allegations.

NHIF has had endless scandals, and none has been successfully held but just like NYS Boss Ndubai and PS Omollo were dragged and thrown to jail, we need an example made out of Mr. Mwangi as well and therefore; we’re calling upon all Kenyans of conscious minds to join us in this campaign of cleaning the health sector and starting by calling for the immediate arrest, freezing of assets and investigations in NHIF CEO Mr. Mwangi and the entire board. This must be done with speed before another scandal hits our face and you can hold your breath, it won’t take long.

NHIF health is under the corruption virus attack with allegations of misappropriation of funds. With eyes on the CEO Mwangi, questions are being raised on the unexplained expenditures of Sh3.B. NHIF CEO approved the construction and completion of a multi-storey car park at a contract sum of Sh. 909, 709, 305. Records available however indicate that the contract sum was later revised upwards to Ksh. 1,179,611,756 representing approximately 30% increase above the original contract sum of Sh909,709,305. This extra expenditure was unwarranted and led to the loss of public funds and a clear contravention of procurement Finance Management Act 2012.

Although records available indicate the car park was completed at a total cost of Sh.3,342,120,239, a further amount of Sh.626,635,998 and Sh.4,706,521 was incurred without pre-requisite approval increasing its total expenditure to Sh.3,973,462 resulting to an increase of approximately 337% over and above the original cost has never been accounted for.

Loss of Sh500M; Some hospitals in cooperation with NHIF senior management made false claims with the intention to defraud NHIF using members’ cards without their consent and claiming for services not performed. The CEO claimed that the public loses more than Sh.500,000,000 monthly in this well-crafted scheme. In light of this admission, by Mr. Mwangi, the board has not taken any definite action to stop the fraud not has anyone been prosecuted. It remains just that as the unsuspecting public gets squandered.

The CEO of NHIF has over the years been unable to account for a parcel of land NO.LR 24968/2 measuring 20 hectares located at Karen in their bio of accounts. Besides, the ownership of the particular parcel of land is in dispute. NHIF acquired the piece of land in at the cost of Sh.93,712,675 to construct a resource center. It commissioned consultants to carry out a feasibility study on the development of a resource center in the area. The consultants did the work as commissioned and submitted their report together with their fee noted for Sh.734,524,029.25. However, NHIF didn’t honor the fee notes because the management had not received prior approval for the works from parent ministry.

The situation resulted in a dispute which was referred to arbitration. The high court later ordered NHIF to pay the consultant Sh.407,107,645 representing principal sum and interest. Even after spending these large sums of money, of public funds in consultancy and purchase, NHIF doesn’t have a land nor resource center to show as the ownership of the land in question is in dispute still in court.

The CEO of NHIF has paid contractors a sum of Sh1,144,787,484 in respect to drawings and designs of the proposed resource center whose construction has not yet commenced even after such huge funds was made thereby leading to loss of public funds.

The accounting officer of the National Hospital Insurance Fund has failed to account for Sh63,530,668 with regards to payments for consultancy fee to a consultancy firm. The amount wasn’t budgeted for and hence the said budget was in contravention to the state corporation Act, Cap 446 Section 12 which states that no corporation shall operate without the prior approval of the Cabinet Secretary, the board of trustees, and the national treasury incur any expenditure for which provision has not been made in an annual estimate prepared and approved in accordance with section 11.

Provision of impaired investment amounting to Sh45.9Million was offset by the Consolidated Bank of Kenya against a guarantee executed by NHIF CEO on behalf of Euro Bank Limited. It is not clear the manner in which public funds are used therefore questioning the credibility and integrity of the CEO. Uncollected revenue of Sh.597,828,290 over an extended period and only provisions for bad and doubtful debts of Sh.152,730,066 for outstanding contributions have been made in the accounts. It’s however unclear the necessary measures taken to recover these funds.

The open looting at NHIF that threatens the realization of UHC should be of great concern to the President who needs now more than ever a team of competent managers holding offices. NHIF being a strategic body doesn’t require the questionable leadership of marked frauds like Mr. Mwangi whose integrity is in question with accountability nightmares clouding his stay in office.

The president has made it clear that he’s not in the business of protecting anyone and those found with their hands in the cookie must face the music. It is in the same breath that DPP Noordin Haji has given his surety to go after the big fishes. As the multi-agency graft unit of NIS, DCI, ODPP, EACC and OAG goes into a brawl, NHIF should be on their topmost prioritized as this is a fertile ground to fish out paper gangsters.

 

Find the NHIF audit report by Office of Auditor General below. 

[pdf-embedder url=”https://cms.kenyainsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/national-hospital-insurance-fund.pdf” title=”national hospital insurance fund”]

In September 2017 at 2 am, fire engulfed the dormitory of Moi Girls and when the fire was put off, 10 students had lost their lives. For the last 9 months, parents and families of the killed students have had to go through the unbearable pain and grieving. Many have been in a deep depression and lives totally disrupted, life has never been the same, it can never be. As for the students, they were left with permanent scars, the trauma from the horrible incident has been haunting. Just when they were still on healing, another disaster has struck home. This time, a rape incident.

According to initial reports, a girl was attacked by about three men when she went to the toilet outside the dormitory at around 2 am and was repeatedly raped at a knifepoint. Allegedly, the men were strangers from outside who committed the heinous crime and escaped undetected. It gets even more puzzling that two more girls were also raped in the dormitory.

What followed after the incidences are outrageous. While the students reported on the case at 2 am, the school suspiciously acknowledged it as 5 am casting shadows. It’s said the students immediately raised the alarm but were dismissed by teachers in duty as being paranoid and asked them to play everything down. Now here’s where my fire shoots up, a student has just been raped, fellow students equally traumatized and you jump straight into saving face?

Reportedly, the students were instructed to act normal and the victim was instructed by the unnamed teacher to wash up and promised scholarship in exchange for her silence. This they thought was going to contain the heat and preserve the name of the school.

Holy crap! First of all, obstruction is a crime and telling the victim to wash up is intentionally interfering with evidence. Why would the school go to such heights to protect the perpetrator because tampering with evidence is basically letting them get away? Does the school already know who the beast is/are and trying hard to protect? Why attempt to water down a rape case at the expense of other potentially exposed students? Stinks to high heavens.

If the school ever bothered to protect their reputation then the Principal Jael Mureithi would’ve prioritized the student’s safety by ensuring maximum security. Negligence is what’s attributed to all these, in the fire incident, a dormitory that was designed for 80 students was modified to accommodate 300, this is a death trap and despite set safety measures, the windows were grilled, doors locked leaving no room for escape in case of emergency, for this, students were roasted to death.

Isn’t there a perimeter wall at Moi Girls? If not why hasn’t the school prioritized this? The school is at the edge of Kibera slums which puts it’s at a risk of invasion by intruders why hasn’t the school invested in security? Alumnus is alluding that the security is the least of priorities which is a great worry.

Parents need to start inspecting dormitories and facilities at schools where they’re dropping their children, some of these places are time bombs, it now makes sense why most schools don’t allow parents during visiting to check the dorms, suicide boxes.

As a safety measure, female students dormitories are required to have a toilet inside but it seems this isn’t the case at Moi Girls putting the lives and safety of these young girls at risk with predators roaming since they have to walk out of the dorm to relieve themselves.

Tough measures must be taken and we shouldn’t just be mad temporarily, we need to have safety steps implemented in these schools, have those toilets at the safe points, we need to have fire drills and other potential risks to avoid massive casualties when disaster hits.

As for Moi Girls, too many coincidences are not that, the Principal must take responsibility for the school’s negligence that is now proving costly, for closure and a tint of confidence, the system must be tweaked and that means some people must be axed. These students can’t learn in a tensed environment and embedded paranoia.

[WARNING: You might find some of the content GRAPHIC]

On the 26th of March this year, Muhidin Ismael Abdi was involved in an accident where he sustained some burns on his left hand and back. Luckily the burn was superficial. Mohamed Ismael, his brother, however, decided it was wise to transfer him from Mandera where he sustained the injury to Nairobi for specialized treatment.

When they picked him up from the airport, they settled as a family tl take him to Shalom Hospital, Athi River due to its convenience and proximity to his brother’s home in Syokimau. He was admitted around 11 am and was attended to in the emergency section. After dressing, they chose to admit him to a private wing due to his condition.

He would be taken to the theater after every three days for dressing and during this times, the doctor told the family that he had to be sedated due to the extent of the wounds, the burns were estimated to be at 20 percent.

In one of the days when he was to be in the theatre which was Saturday the 31st. Muhudin was prepared from the morning and he stayed the whole day without food and was eventually taken to the theater around 5 p.m. even though the schedule as told was to be around 12 o’clock.

He was wheeled back to his room around 8.30 pm unconscious and the family helped the nurses who brought him to transfer him to the bed.

It was at this moment that the family noticed something quite unusual on his right hand which was the side where the nurses and doctors most of the time used to give him injections and fluid as his left hand was burnt.

They could see this was a fresh burn and his hand was so swollen. Immediately, they asked the nurse what it could be, she dismissed their alarm saying she didn’t know as she was not part of the theatre team.

Mohamed, the brother then went up to look for the matron who came down to see him. He asked to be given time and he also advised him to see the administrator.

As the day turned, things went from bad to worse, Muhudin’s hand was now getting worse. The next morning Mohamed called a family lawyer to accompany him to the hospital where they met the administrator, the hospital public relations officer and the doctor who attended to Muhudin in the theatre.

The feedback they got from the team was that the patient got the burns on his hand due to a heater which was placed next to him while he was unconscious and they forgot to place it far from him. This looked so casual to the family and they sort further explanation on how a patient under their care could get that amount of burns without anyone in the theater realizing or even noticing until themselves had to reveal it.

They then confronted the hospital to take responsibility for the negligence but that’s when the cat and mouse games started. His pain was not subsidizing and his condition was deteriorating. They decided to transfer Muhidin to a different hospital on 9th of March. To add insults to the injury, they billed them even on the fresh burns inflicted by the staff’s negligence. Left with little option, they paid to clear Muhidin for a new hospital.

Few days after leaving the hospital, Muhidin got healed on the original burns but that was also the beginning of a new battle as his fresh burns from Shalom Hospital escalated and he has been in and out of hospital ever since.

His injured hand is in extreme horrible state that doctors are contemplating amputation. As an intervention, doctors settled on grafting where they had to open his stomach skin to bury the severed hand to grow flesh, this the only way he’ll be saved from the hand getting chopped off.

The fact here is, the burns that are currently giving Muhudin and the family nightmares were sustained from Shalom due to the negligence of staff. Genuinely, the hospital ought to have owned up and taken responsibility instead they’ve acted with total disregard for humanity and shown ultimate arrogance.

Shalom Hospital has refused to give the family audience even though they continue to incur losses made from the hospital’s mistakes one ask just how bad it gets. They’ve consecutively ignored a demand letter written to them by the family lawyer, demanding their responsibility.

Mohamed Ismael while speaking to us, says he wants to send clear messages out there, “I want Kenyans to be careful when taking your loved one to the hospital to be sure if the doctors attending to them are not quacks or the hospital has good management that you can entrust the lives of your loved ones. Many a time, we entrust our loved ones in their hands and when they are taken to the theater, chance are they come out dead and we shall be given all kinds of stories to justify the death. We would never know the truth many people die in quack doctors hands due to professional negligence.”

He continues, “as a family, we have gone through a lot with my brother during this ordeal and we warn Kenyans against making wrong decisions of going to hospitals which lack the professionalism when they find themselves in a similar situation. We ask for your help to highlight this with us through your social circles to get justice for my brother as Kenyans authorities only take matters seriously when Kenyans put pressure.”

The distraught family is asking for Kenyans who can reach out to help them get justice do so, they’ve also lodged a complaint with the medical board. Cases of medical negligence are not new and the actions from Shalom Hospital points at a possibility of a common culture and crafted ways of getting away with it. It is painful to check-in to a hospital and instead of being healed, you walk away with fresh problems. Shalom Hospital must take responsibility for their negligence, compensate and ensure Muhudin gets back to his original state. There’s no any other way around it.

Dr. Fredrick Ouma Oluga of Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMDPU) has remained one of the most defiant union officials in recent history having stood up the government with the doctors last year in what can be referred as the biggest doctors strike in recent times.

The doctor’s strike crossed the 100 days mark that was three months with ghosted public hospitals. This wasn’t an easy mission as it came with extreme intimidation from the government. Things went from bad to worse, Union officials were threatened and worse physically harmed. Intense lobbying was done to break the impasse including bribe offers to the union officials to call off the strike, COTU Sec Gen, Atwoli was called in to mediate but the young team of doctors stood their ground.

Eventually, KMPDU officials were sent to jail for holding a strike seen as illegal but the series of intimidation tactics that ensued during the strike especially on Dr.Oluga remains a case study. From character assassination which was executed by the government’s online mercenaries, the famous 36 bloggers to physical harm were enough to break him but it appears the doctor in his 30s had already made a resolve to see doctors demands met at all costs.

At one point, fake Facebook post was made to paint Dr. Oluga as tribal and inciting, the plot was thwarted with facts that demystified everything.

 

Itumbi’s reply.

.@KinyanBoy Fake App? Ok. here a recorded Video interaction with Oluga's update before it was deleted #SystemYaFacts @OliverMathenge pic.twitter.com/xdjrmLIcoz

— -Dennis Itumbi, CBS (@OleItumbi) February 16, 2017

 

Challenging the lie with exposing video.

GM @OleItumbi as promised,I've answered to your video with a video. Square.Let's get docs back to work. No sideshows https://t.co/v0yojUwR2Y

— Kenya West (@KinyanBoy) February 17, 2017

During a trip to Eldoret meet members from the region during the strike period last year, Dr. Oluga was attacked in his hotel by an armed man who was later identified as a state agent. In another incident in Nairobi’s Intercontinental Hotel, a man who identified himself as an ex-army officer gave Dr. Oluga a warning at gunpoint, “Wacha kusumbua serikali tutakumaliza”. Another public incident was in Bomet where union officials were attacked by then Governor Rutto’s guards, find were drawn and at the end, Dr. Oluga walked out with a broken finger.

Death threats and other forms of intimidations have been part of his work as the Union official and most probably his tough stands on healthcare must have earned him powerful enemies. Doctors strike was called off even though the government is yet to honor the signed deal. Most doctors have gone for months without pay. The pressure on the Sec Gen and Union officials had gone down since the end of the strike but now creeping back.

From a highly placed source, Kenya Insights has obtained documents of what is a clever scheme of character assassination targeting Dr. Oluga in what we read a sinister motive. In our investigations, we’ve followed the pattern of emails that are sent anonymously from Gorilla Mail (a dark web email provider for sending anonymous emails to specific people within the doctor’s circle.

The authors allege that Dr. Oluga is involved in a love triangle, this they hope would bring into question his integrity as a leader. The messaging is tailored to build a narrative that would be used as excuses should they proceed to harm the Sec Gen of the doctors union.

Of curiosity is those that this group is targeting, they’ve smartly figured out and sending these emails to union officials, close friends and influential public figures from MPs to CSs. This clearly shows the motive is character assassination and our worst fear is it could be a narrative being laid as planners plot to cause harm to the Sec-Gen.

The love triangle has been a quick and favorite getaway for most assassinations even in Tom Mboya’s, Mutula Kilonzo, Jacob Juma and Lately Chris Msando, and any other prominent mysterious murder you can think of, love triangle theory has always been thrown in. For this reason, it’s easier for someone to build a narrative of a love triangle so, in the case of bodily harm, they’ll blame it on the love triangle even if that’s not the case.

We’ve also established in our investigations that Dr. Oluga had reported this matter to the DCI and Cyber Crime, Serious Crimes units and a month later, no communication has come forthwith from the DCI. In one of the emails, Dr. Oluga’s mother and family have been threatened to go to show the scale of this threats. We’re left wondering as to why the doctor has not gone public with this information yet we want to believe he knows the dangers it poses.

The question that would tickle any mind as to who really did the Sec Gen rub the wrong way that has gone to the length of sending malicious emails to targeted contacts. The is a question that can only be answered by the police after conducting their investigations and arresting the culprits otherwise everything else remains mere speculations.

Dr. Oluga has been vocal against the importation of doctors from Cuba insisting that it will not solve the healthcare crisis in Kenya. In his argument which corresponds with the Union stand, Dr. Ouma says that Kenya has more than 1,000 unemployed doctors and that by importing 100 doctors from Cuba, the situation will not be solved. Instead, he has advises the government to absorb local doctors and advocating for the full implementation of CBA that would see improved healthcare.

Talking of improved healthcare, Dr. Ouma recently wrote about, the dark side of public-private partnerships a matter that became a subject of discussion at the Devolution Conference In Kakamega. He argued that in healthcare, public-private partnerships are conduits for corruption. This coming at a time when President Uhuru has set aside about Sh500B for the implementation of his Big Four work plan with healthcare being the top list of what to do.

Jacob Juma, Chris Msando both had similar threats as those sent to Dr. Oluga, both reported to the police and in now a similar pattern, no follow up was done and the next thing was bodies discovered in thickets. As a matter of urgency, we’re calling upon the police to treat matters of life threats and especially to a man of Dr. Oluga’s position in society with the seriousness it deserves.

These emails are not being sent by bots but real people who will also read this article and come up with something crazy to fit into their narrative. We have a police unit for this and I want to believe they’re competent enough to smoke out these criminals wherever they’re. A failure to do so will send a clear message of deliberate incompetence. Police should therefore unearth the truth to reveal those behind this scheme and establish reasons why.

Doping Is Running Down Kenya’s Reputation Who’s This Man Federico Rosa

Kenya has been making great strides in athletics and for a long time, we’ve been known internationally for athletics, tourism and more recently, home of world’s most powerful leader Obama. For decades, Kenyans have been dominating marathons and all key races, athletics has blossomed from a mere competition into a multi-billion business where athletes and agents are raking in billions.

Discipline has been a dominating character of our athletes but this virtue is slowly fading thanks to doping presence. About 40 Kenyan athletes have thus far been tested positive for banned energy enhancement substances that have greatly damaged the reputation of our athletes and the country as a whole.

Asbel Kiprop, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, and three-time world champion have been charged with an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for the blood-boosting drug, EPO. This represents a massive blow to athletics as well as Kenyan distance running when it was only last year that Jemima Sumgong, the Olympic women’s marathon champion in Rio in 2016, tested positive for the same EPO and was banned for four years.

Once considered the home of distance running, Kenya has had a rash of positive tests – in 2016 they reported 40 cases over the previous four years – with marathon star Rita Jeptoo also being caught using EPO. Dozens of Kenyans have tested positive for an array of doping substances in recent years. They include big-name athletes, among them Olympic marathon champion Jemima Sumgong.

Like four other elite Kenyan runners who also failed doping tests. The others are Sumgong, Rita Jeptoo, Matthew Kisorio and Agatha Jeruto.

Sumgong and Jeptoo tested positive for EPO and were banned for four years. Kisorio and Jeruto tested positive for traces of steroids and were banned for two and four years respectively.

Incidentally, Kiprop, Sumgong and the other elite athletes who’ve tested positive for doping happen to be managed by the Italian agent, Federico Rosa. But Kiprop’s unfortunate results don’t come as a surprise, Rosa who was the subject of a doping investigation by the Kenyan authorities in 2016. Federico charges were withdrawn by the state in what is said to be orders from above going to show just how much protected this cartel is.

Around that time, Italian coach, Claudio Berardelli and two co-accused were cleared of administering banned substance Erythropoietin (EPO) on disgraced female marathoner, Rita Jeptoo in an anti-climactic end to a case that captured the world’s attention that year.

#Rosamustgo when can we say enough is enough ? 90% of good Kenyan athletes got with doping have come from one agency. I am now making it my duty that Rosa and associates are kicked out of Kenya and never allowed to represent Kenyan athletes it is now or never. Get ready !!

— Hon Wesley Korir (@weskorir) May 3, 2018

Berardelli and his assistant, Daniel Cheribo Kiplangat alongside a pharmacist practicing in Kapsabet, Dr. Stephen ‘Kalya’ Kiplagat Tanui, were accused of conspiring to injure the profession of Jeptoo — originally a three-time winner at Boston and a two-time champion at Chicago marathons — who is serving a four-year international ban.

Federico has been accused of damaging many athletes. Rosa and his father, Gabriele Rosa, a prominent coach and cardiologist from Brescia, Italy, have long helped develop distance running with training camps in Kenya.

Runners they have coached or managed through the years include Paul Tergat, a former world-record holder in the marathon; Sammy Wanjiru, the 2008 Olympic marathon champion; Stanley Biwott, the winner of the 2015 New York City Marathon; and Jemima Sumgong, who won the gold medal in the women’s marathon at the Rio Olympics.

Rita Jeptoo, a Boston and Chicago Marathon champion who tested positive for EPO in 2014, was also a former training partner of Sumgong’s who also tested positive and both like Kiprop were managed by Federico. One would really not have to crack their heads to read a pattern and fail to hold the manager responsible for his athlete’s doping menace. It’s almost impossible to imagine that all these would go without the knowledge of the managers.

Pattern drawn can no longer be ignored, Federico needs to be kept as far as possible from Kenyan athletes lest he destroys what the country has sweated for many years. It can’t be business as usual when we keep losing best athletes and the doping suspects continue with their dirty business.

As a safety measure, Rosa and company must be banned from managing Kenyan athletes, a serious investigation launched to unearth this cartel that is also locally based destroying young athletes. It doesn’t need to take another athlete to go down for the authorities to wake up. Stop Federico Rosa and other suspicious agents from damaging out athletes and country’s reputation.

Huawei might be the most popular smartphones beside iPhone but unpopular and not impressing the US Intelligence agencies. The heads of six major US intelligence agencies have warned that American citizens shouldn’t use products and services made by Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE. The intelligence chiefs made the recommendation during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday. The group included the heads of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the director of national intelligence.

During his testimony, FBI Director Chris Wray said the government was “deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don’t share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks.” He added that this would provide “the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage.”

These warnings are nothing new. The US intelligence community has long been wary of Huawei, which was founded by a former engineer in China’s People’s Liberation Army and has been described by US politicians as “effectively an arm of the Chinese government.” This caution led to a ban on Huawei bidding for US government contracts in 2014, and it’s now causing problems for the company’s push into consumer electronics.

Although Huawei started life as a telecoms firm, creating hardware for communications infrastructure, the company’s smartphones have proved incredibly successful in recent years. Last September, it even surpassed Apple as the world’s second-biggest smartphone maker, behind Samsung.

Huawei has unsuccessfully tried to make inroads into the prestigious American market that is dominated by Apple and Samsung but attempts have been blocked on several occasions.

US lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would ban government employees from using Huawei and ZTE phones altogether. During Tuesday’s hearing, Republican Senator Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: “The focus of my concern today is China, and specifically Chinese telecoms like Huawei and ZTE, that are widely understood to have extraordinary ties to the Chinese government.”

New developments from the US Intelligence community is a real worry to Kenyans as well, see, Kenya’s biggest telecommunication company who also happens to have won the national security CCTV tender, runs their facility on Huawei. Simply put, Kenya’s security system runs on Huawei and now with spying accusations, China is probably spying on Kenya which ideally doesn’t come as a surprise.

Word on the ground is the Kenyan government was warned against contracting Huawei who have links with the Chinese government but went ahead. The awarding of the tender was as shrewd as many, Safaricom bloated the tender value in a case that has even ended up in the courts. Conspiring with powerful individuals in government, Safaricom was allegedly single-sourced the tender for Sh45B which they then subcontracted Huawei to supply, install and maintain the security facility at Sh15B with the rest Sh30B moving to unknown accounts.

Kenyans have little success stories to tell since much of the CCTV have failed to unravel for example assassinations. Apart from security forces running on Huawei, the phone brand remains Safaricom’s best-selling smartphone posing the real levels of threats should spying be confirmed in Kenya.

Recently, China was found to be spying on the African Union Headquarters where they had installed the sound equipment and security facility. Kenya is a key business hub for the Chinese and the region and given the close ties the country enjoys with the East, it really wouldn’t come as a surprise.

(Reuters) – Cambridge Analytica, the UK political consultancy at the center of Facebook’s election manipulation scandal, ran the campaigns of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the 2013 and 2017 Kenyan elections, according to video secretly recorded and broadcast by Britain’s Channel 4 News on Monday.

The company denied all allegations made by Channel 4 News regarding its business practices.

The news channel said it mounted a “sting operation” in which it said had secretly recorded top Cambridge Analytica executives saying they could use bribes, former spies and Ukrainian sex workers to entrap politicians around the world.

The New York Times and the British Observer newspaper reported on Saturday that Cambridge Analytica had acquired private data harvested from more than 50 million Facebook users to support Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign.

Mark Turnbull, a managing director for Cambridge Analytica and sister company SCL Elections, told Channel 4’s undercover investigative reporting team that his firm secretly stage-managed Kenyatta’s hotly contested campaigns to run the East African nation.

Part of the Channel 4 documentary touching on Kenya’s election.

“We have rebranded the entire party twice, written the manifesto, done research, analysis, messaging. I think we wrote all the speeches and we staged the whole thing – so just about every element of this candidate,” Turnbull said of his firm’s work for Kenyatta’s political party, known as the National Alliance until 2016, and subsequently as the Jubilee Party.

Kenyatta came to power in 2013 and won a second and final term last August, defeating opposition leader Raila Odinga by 1.4 million votes. The Supreme Court nullified the vote citing procedural irregularities and ordered a second election.

Last September, former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the second election a “project” of Cambridge Analytica. The Jubilee Party has not commented.

Odinga did not contest the repeat vote on Oct. 26, saying it would be unfair because the election commission had failed to implement reforms and Kenyatta won with 98 percent of the vote.

At a prior meeting, Turnbull told the reporters: “Our job is to really drop the bucket further down the well than anybody else to understand what are these really deep-seated fears, concerns. “It is no good fighting an election campaign on the facts, because actually it is all about emotion.”

One of the fear mongering propaganda videos made by Cambridge Analytica.

Cambridge Analytica officials were recorded saying they have used a web of shell companies to disguise their activities in elections in Mexico, Malaysia and Brazil, among various countries where they have worked to sway election outcomes.

Chief Executive Alexander Nix is recorded boasting: “We are not only the largest and most significant political consultancy in the world but we have the most established track record. We need to operate through different vehicles, in the shadows.”

“I look forward to building a very long-term and secretive relationship with you,” he tells the reporters.

Cambridge Analytica denied all allegations made by Channel 4 News regarding its business practices. The company said in statement it was humoring the undercover reporters and trying to gauge their motives by actively encouraging them, “to tease out any unethical or illegal intentions”.

Channel 4 noted that their last meeting with Cambridge Analytica had taken place in January at a London hotel and that company employees had continued to email them seeking to strike a deal to work on a Sri Lankan campaign up until recently.

Cambridge Analytica acknowledged in a statement that, its CEO had “misjudged the situation”. Nix said: “I must emphatically state that Cambridge Analytica does not condone or engage in entrapment, bribes or so-called ‘honeytraps’, and nor does it use untrue material for any purpose.”

Nairobi remains one of the cities in Africa with high crime rates despite being region’s economic hub and Kenya being a preferred destination for the world’s richest. Criminal gangs comprising mostly of young men in their early twenties and some as young as 13 years are giving city residents a run for their lives.

Seven in every ten Nairobians you meet, have been mugged and everyone always has a story to tell. Recently, the situation in the CBD escalated to dangerous levels as these gangs took over the streets. Phones, wigs, bags were getting snatched by the terrifying gang members. Following a public outcry, they retreated back to the estates.

Estates like Kayole, Dandora, Huruma, Mathare in the Eastlands are infested with these young lethal criminals who’ve not only been terrorizing locals but are very ready to kill. Gangs like Gaza whose membership is young men and women in their teenage have been a thorn in the flesh, they’ve been targeting police officers some of whom they’ve killed, cops have retaliated in a clean sweep response. Most members of the criminal group have since been killed.

Approximately, cops have fallen over 100 members of this parasitic group. A visit to Facebook group ‘Dandora Crime Free’ which is run by undercover cops, shows the levels of crime in the slums and how many of them end up being killed by police -Hessy.

Kenya’s justice system is favourable to the criminals as they get bailed out according to Hessy Wa Dandora whose perfect alternative for dealing with robbers is by shooting them dead or stoning by mob justice. Mobile phone snatching remains a top exercise for the thieves of Nairobi given that they’re easily moved. Smartphones are selling like hotcakes in the streets Just like Toyota so there are high chances of your phone being snatched in the streets than a box of chocolate.

After being mugged, people tend to forget about their stolen phones and moving on with their lives without reporting to the police. After all, there’s nothing much one stands to gain reporting a lost phone to the police since they’re ever reluctant to follow up and if the phone reported stolen was expensive, the cops would ask for bribe to trace it and even when you pay them, they’ll take you in endless trips extorting more money. Given this dead end, many prefer moving on with their lives, renewing SIM cards, buying New phones and forget everything.

However, as it’s now emerging, you’ve been putting your lives in grave danger by not reporting a stolen phone to the police. Several cases of owners of a stolen phone used to commit a crime elsewhere being arrested are on the rise a rise this must concern you. Leonard Kimutai a Langata resident currently in Industrial Area remand facing a robbery with violence charge is such one example. In November, he was mugged by thieves in town and lost his new Samsung S8 phone, like many others who find it lucky to walk out alive, he simply moved on buying a new phone. Having forgotten, January 5th would make his life take a whole New turn.

His Samsung phone that had been stolen in November had been linked to a crime scene committed in Kiambu where victims a father and his son were killed. His phone was tracked to the scene as the thieves had used it to call the murdered hours before the cold murder. They obviously used a different number but the phone is what left the marks back to him. With IMEI registration, it is easy to trace numbers used on a handset, long story short, Leonard is fighting a robbery case that would see him serve a long term in jail over a crime he didn’t commit, his only crime was not reporting stolen phone to the police. Were it that he had reported it back in November and armed himself with the abstract, he’d easily walk out but since he didn’t, there’s no easy way to convince the police that he wasn’t an accomplice to the crime.

There’s no uniqueness in this case as many similar exists and innocent people are being held in jail over a minor mistake. Criminals have developed New ways of interfering with crime scenes and sending investigators the wrong direction. We’ve had cases of them dropping a stolen ID card at a crime scene throwing cops in the wrong way, this is also another reason why you must always report a stolen ID, that abstract can save your life when you least expect it.

Some are also dropping used airtime cards picked randomly from the streets at their crime scenes. Investigators will map out the scene and use any simple exhibit for tracing, the used airtime card can be easily traced back to the person who loaded it and just like that you find yourself in a mess you didn’t bargain for. The advisable thing is to always destroy completely and dump safely a used card.

Cases like this are not many but you can’t take chances since they’re happening. Your stolen phone that you probably registered on your name can be sold to someone else or criminals use it to commit deadly crimes elsewhere, they can hide leaving you in unseen trouble. Good news is, you can avoid all this by simply reporting any stolen item not just a phone to the police. Reporting doesn’t necessarily mean recovery after all its rare to recover a stolen item in Nairobi, you’re simply reporting to cover yourself from a potential risk of being dragged into a criminal case that you weren’t part of.

Buying smartphones from unauthorized shops and on the streets is a risk, actually, avoid second-hand phones from unregistered shops since most of them buy from thieves and simply, refurbish and repackage. Don’t buy phone from people you don’t know and even if it’s from someone you know, always have a written agreement. You simply can’t afford taking any risk. Advisable to buy your phone and other items from genuine shops with all warranties and receipts for your security, it might be more expensive as compared to streets phones but worth it. Reporting to the police on your stolen phone, documents might be a tedious task but believe me, it’s not as hell as ending up in jail for a crime you didn’t commit. I hope this saves someone.