Transcend is very bitter over the loss in January 2014 of a tender for Safaricom’s lucrative advertising contract to Scanad, despite Transcend having topped the technical evaluation.
Safaricom was apparently concerned that Transcend came with political baggage that could damage East Africa’s most profitable company.
Njeru is allegedly one of the brokers behind the alleged payment of Sh200 million to Justice Philip Tunoi.
Tunoi had been accused of taking the bribe to influence a Supreme Court judgment on Ferdinand Waititu’s appeal to annul Evans Kidero’s election as Nairobi Governor.
In February, Saracen won a contract from Safaricom to handle youth advertising, beating Transcend and other agencies.
In April, Saracen recruited four staff from Transcend. This seems to have precipitated the raid over alleged breach of copyright.
Transcend possibly believed Saracen had received creative ideas used in their pitch for the Safaricom business.
But Saracen managers insist they ensured none of Transcend’s original content was brought by the new staff.
Transcend does not like losing. In 2013 the company lost a Kenya Airports Authority contract and went to the PPOA to protest.
According to the mobile telco, the marketing department crafted the overarching theme of ‘Success is not conventional’ targeting the youth segment.
In September 2015, Safaricom invited several research companies for a brainstorm and further refining of the concept, with the companies requested to send their submissions in relation to the brief.
The process saw Youth Dynamix (YDX) identified as Safaricom’s youth research partner.
Safaricom then briefed its agency Scanad to develop the creative work and craft communication assets, but due to the scope and scale of the BLAZE campaign, the telco company decided to engage a second creative digital agency to specifically handle BLAZE.
Among the agencies asked by Safaricom to bid and pitch for the handling of the Blaze campaign included Transcend Media, Express DDB, Seven Brands, Media Edge Interactive, Brainwave Communications, Nuturn Limited, Fox 2P Advertising and eventual winners, Seracen Media Kenya.
In its court filing Transcend says there are similarities between its presentation and the final BLAZE campaign content, essentially accusing Safaricom of lifting and using sections of the pitch by Transcend.
But Safaricom says the brief sent to the shortlisted agencies had a broad, cross-cutting theme aimed for the ‘Youth and discerning professionals segments.’
The brief, Safaricom says, contained details of consumer segmentation and the brand guidelines outlining the scope and expected standards of the pitch.
Safaricom says while Transcend ranked very well in terms of creativity, the agency failed to demonstrate the centrality of a digital strategy, a factor Safaricom had underpinned in the initial stages.
But in what might be the decisive action to lock out Transcend, Safaricom considered the agency ranked very low in terms of ethics and in breach of the Safaricom’s code of conduct.
The state in a suspicious turn of events , deported Jerome Starkey , an investigative Africa’s correspondent to London’s The Times. Jerome who has been resident in Kenya since 2012, was flagged down at JKIA when he was checking back in the country .
He was informed his passport has been marked by security agency , apparently he posed security threat to the country and so the steps in him insinuated . Jerome was held at the airport’s police station for more than 24 hours during which he wasn’t given access to his lawyer who was turned away by security officials when he attempted to see his client , a clear violation . On his Twitter page, Jerome said he was never briefed of any violation and only questioned by an ATPU agent who again didn’t tell him about his wrong doing .
Before he knew it, Jerome was being deported without any official communication from the government as to what he had done to warrant such a step. A government agent , Dennis Itumbi in a flimsy excuse said Jerome did not have a valid work permit . In a quick retribution , the dreaded journalist said he has had a valid 2×2 work permit and applied for a new one in Octoberof eguvg the immigration has refused to issue . Seems like it was all planned given the pattern.
The journalist has reported on a ray of issues that might have rubbed the government wrong way from corruption scandals to extrajudicial killings rampant in the system. His colleagues describe him as a fierce journalist with indomitable professional standards.
One case that stands out that might have rattled the government is his sustained follow up on the cocaine haul case against British aristocrat who is believed to be an innocent and planted suspect now facing life in prison.
In his latest reporting on the same case, Jerome hinted at police holding the key to freeing the aristocrat
Kibera law court had ordered police to hand over intelligence dossiers that could exonerate a British aristocrat accused of smuggling cocaine worth £4.8 million.
Jack Marrian, 31, a nephew of the Earl of Cawdor, is facing life in prison after 99.7kg of the drug was seized from a shipping container full of sugar in Mombasa.
Mr Marrian, a trader with ED&F Man, was importing sugar from Brazil to Uganda and says that he knew nothing about the cocaine. His co-accused, Roy Mwanthi, had been hired to clear the sugar through the port. They deny the charges.
Spanish police told Kenyan officers that the drugs were due to be offloaded in Valencia, but something went wrong. The drugs were left in the container which carried on to Mombasa, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
The British government has a copy of the US intelligence report, but Kenyan officials have refused to share it with Mr Marrian’s defence. Andrew Wandabwa, his lawyer, said the state was wilfully “sitting on evidence” that showed Kenyan police arrested someone with no connection to the drugs.
Series of stories Jerome has done on the cocaine haul largely pointing fingers at the State
The head of Kenya’s anti-narcotics unit said he had letters from US and Spanish authorities which said that the smugglers were using a technique in which they hide drugs in containers without the owners knowing. A magistrate gave the state 15 days to hand over its evidence.
Marrian lawyers have often accused the state of desperately trying to save a face in the heavily driven political pressure case. Jerome is one of the few journalists who’ve kept a close eye on the dreaded case by many journalists and this might have not gone well by the power circles determined to bury the truth in the case. Some quarters also say he was doing a sensitive story on the death of Jacob Juma the slain businessman also suspected to have been gunned down by the state in a case that is yet to be determined by the DCI investigations but Kenya Insights can’t independently ascertain this claim doing rounds.
It’s unfortunate that insincere elements in the government are now using state resources to intimidate journalists and in ripple effect clamping down on media freedom taking Kenya steps back in freedom rights.
In our previous piece highlighting on the doctors standoff , we revealed how the evil Health PS Muraguri was issuing threats to KMPDU Officials to call off the strike or face unclear consequences but the doctors stood their grounds .
As poor Kenyans continue to bare the consequences with scores of deaths reported across the country and doctors staying far away from public hospitals , governments dishonesty in resolving the issue continue to manifest. Physical Intimidation on officials apart , in what clearly is an executive manipulation , Labour court threatened to issue warrants of arrests on the officials should they refuse to call off the strike . This an old trick that Moi used to do and martial industrial unrest. KMPDU in retribution ,boycotted negotiations until the State withdrew such uncouth coercion tactics.
Intel gathered by Kenya Insights is that the KMPDU officials were called for negotiations again This morning at 9am and then GoK negotiators cancelled. Now the info is that GoK cronies had planned to arrest them, have them charged with holding an illegal strike and deny them bail on a 6 months jail term. And apparently all this is being planned from Office of the President.
But for now the doctors say they will not be intimidated by these threats and insist that GoK adhere to CBA.
Health PS Muraguri and Mailu have resorted to using resources from OP to do their dirty work and drag the establishment of the Presidency into the mud by threatening and plotting violations against union officials while hiding under the auspices of the OP.
We gather that the OP are not directly involved but because Uhuru has directed the PS to resolve the situation Muraguri is using those powers to act in egregious manner.
The doctors say they have been warned they will be arrested and likely be kept in jail till Tuesday since the red flag ia putting the case on a Friday, then face charges of which the magistrate in a predetermined ruling, is expected to rule they be incarcerated for 6 months no bail
The union had already raised bail money with a target of 10 million knowing all the schemes. Muraguri got wind and plotted to have the doctors denied bail.
Uhuru gave the PS a directive and the PS is a violent and vindictive man who tried bribery, threats and now wants to take the freedom of union officials instead of reconciling as instructed by the President. Muraguri is clearly a psychopath who needs these same doctors back in the hospitals to treat his mental condition before it escalates to irreversible levels. He’s getting out of control and that Uhuru needs to act swiftly and fire him
Muraguri is playing God with the lives of union officials and Kenya’s patients and is a violent evil man willing to jail officials and allow patients to die due to his institutional corruption and evil methods. Uhuru needs to fire him.
Muraguri hides behind the president to threaten civil servants while he watches Kenya’s poorest people die.
MoH is ultimately guilty of criminal negligence and Muraguri should be held personally responsible for every persons death. Kenyans whose relatives have died should file a class action wrongful death and criminal negligence suit against Muraguri and MoH
Muraguri has no intention of resolving the crisis he is only interested in jailing his fellow doctors and ensuring the crisis escalates to shocking levels as Kenya Union of Civil servants threaten to join the strike and private hospitals go on strike from Tuesday.
We appeal to the President to intervene and bring an end to Muraguri evil intentions and bloodlust and step in to implement the CBA, and Kenyans will be grateful.
In Kikuyu, Muraguri is a witch doctor and soothsayer.. A liar.. Soothsayers are considered liars in Kikuyu culture. So the descriptions fits him tighter than what you’re thinking of. “Muraguri runs MoH like a Witch doctor looking for blood. Evil!” One high MoH official told this writer.
The painful part, is he is trying to arrest his own colleagues! Muraguri who’s linked to Marget Kenyatta family , was once a doctor and maybe he’ll go back to practice after being kicked out of MoH and now power has ruined his head not to be in touch with the plights of his colleagues.
Even in university he was crooked by the way, suspected of stealing as most of his colleagues now doctors say. He has never been a straight arrow.
If Uhuru is genuinely concerned about the Doctors and more so the sickly Kenyans then he must jump to the rescue by first firing the bluff negotiator Muraguri not only out from the table but out of office since he’s steadily ruining the ministry from internal corruption to now worsening the standoff . He clearly lacks the leadership umph and will work to ruin all great developments made. Kick Muraguri out to some planet where we won’t have to deal with him ever.
A shame to the profession. The Hippocratic oath says “First Do no Harm” but Muraguri has caused the deaths of Kenyans through his virulence in the past week.
Mike Njeru is the Proprietor of an entity known as Transcend Media Group. A company that was adversely mentioned in the NYS scandal for swindling millions of taxpayers money in the tune of millions
Important to notice is that his businesses are not built on severe tenets of business acumen but rather through government tenders, one after the other, awarded to him along the dark corridors of the government offices, all the while posing as a shrewd businessman.
For instance, Njeru joined the assault on Safaricom at the behest of Moi-Era lawyer Ken Kiplagat for selfish reasons. Mr. Kiplagat wanted to be paid by Safaricom for frequencies that are owned by the National Police Service. Mr. Njeru was hitting back at Safaricom officials and WPP Scangroup. He is a disappointed contractor angered by the loss of business to Scangroup and the long-standing acrimonious relationship between the two firms.
He has over the years cultivated shadowy contacts in his quest to get a commercial advantage over rival media groups. He lobbies for business mainly through political connections.
In recent past, having failed to clinch a lucrative rig-move logistics deal with the state-owned company, KenGen, he mounted a major media offensive on the company by liberally circulating an internal audit report that was critical of the manner in which the rig-move contracts had been handled.
It is emerging that when he put in his pitch for the Safaricom tender in 2014, there were reputational issues that were flagged by Safaricom’s risk department, and which essentially knocked Transcend from the race.
Mr. Njeru’s firm was accused of attempting to influence Safaricom officials into looking at their pitch favorably at a time when the tender evaluation was on-going. In an email to one of Safaricom’s staff members, Gatheca, the company’s Managing Director was apparently attempting to bribe the staff members with a fully paid junket trip to Barcelona, ostensibly to attend a conference organized by Transcend’s global affiliate, McCann.
In a confidential letter seen by Kenya Insights, Mike Njeru through Lai Muthoka who doubles as his errand boy, wrote to KPLC head Kenneth Marende to overrule on a lucrative tender that they had lost over incapacitating issues as stipulated by KPLC requirement. As in previous cases, he attempted to arm-twist Marende into submission. Such backdoor ways are unethical especially on being beaten down in a competitive tendering process.
Civil society is defined as the “aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest the interests and will of citizens. It is also defined as the ‘the third sector”; coming after “government” and “business.”
Civil society is also referred to as the “Fifth Estate,” in the pecking order of the three estates of government and the fourth estate (media). Civil society institutions promote ideological alternatives to society, without aiming at financial profits. They exist for the social good of society.
Civil society mainly comprises of International NGO’s; e.g. World Vision, Urgent Action, Action Aid, USAID, PLAN, etc. and Local NGO’s; e.g. Kenya Scouts, Kenya Red Cross Society, IED, Cradle, CREAW, etc.
Since the end of the “Era of good feelings” in the 19th century, Civil society became an indispensable component of authentic human development all over the world. They focus on the most vulnerable of communities. Their projects and programs have translated to massive improvements in the quality of lives of people. Some of the broad programmatic areas of CSO’s include Education, Health, Civic Empowerment, Water and Sanitation, Human rights advocacy, Social Accountability, Children, youth and gender empowerment, workers’ rights, environmental rights and many others.
To fund their programs and projects and meet operational costs, Civil Society depends on donations from billionaire businessmen cum philanthropists. Many of these billionaires give colossal amounts of money to charity initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean’s. Donations come from the rich and famous to the nondescript and anonymous in Europe, North America and lately Africa.
The world has heard of billion dollar aid from corporate magnates like Warren Buffet, Bill, and Melinda Gates, George Soros, Chuck Feeny, John Davison Rockefeller, Michael Bloomberg, David Koch, Mo Ibrahim, Tony Elumelu, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, Strive Masiyiwa and much more. Undeniably, these gracious donations and acts of charity to the poorest of society are not vain. As Sir Winston Churchill once poignantly put it “Never was so much, owed by so many, to so few.”
But amid all the razzle dazzle and hubbub, there is something horribly worrisome happening behind the curtains. The civil society world in Kenya appears to be run by a particular cabal of extremely wealthy individuals. Well….nothing wrong in being rich, but not at the expense of the poor people whom they purport to serve.
They are “life presidents.” These Rich Activists of society remain and refuse to leave the helm of their organizations; they apparently have no term limits. They run these outfits with an iron grip, and in so doing, have managed to accumulate millions of dollars in private wealth.
One wonders whether the dictum of perpetual succession applies to their organizations. One fails to understand if indeed these organizations are private enterprises, or whether they manage them on behalf of the people. It behooves a conscientious mind to realize that no matter how talented and skilled a superintendent is, time must come for that person to create room in an organization, for growth and to benefit from the skills and expertise of other people.
But given the steady flow of aid dollars from philanthropic tycoons, it is unlikely that these Rich activists of Civil society would be planning to retire. Even third world governments beat them on this. The few who retire the only morph from being CEO to executive board chairmen. Others leave, but before the sun sets, they are already a chief executive officer of another CSO. How lucky……?!
These wealthy activists live in sheer opulence, lavishness, and extravagance. They’re chauffeured in the latest SUV’s and reserve for themselves only the finest comfort in land and air. They move from one suburb to another, in search of superfluity. They are the connoisseurs and aficionados, the cream de la cream of society. They are the “haves”, the bourgeoisie; they are the owners of capital. They’re clothed in haute couture and nourish themselves on nothing less than haute cuisine. Catch them in first class flights, traveling to choice destinations around the world. The frequent flier was preordained for them.
The rich Activists of civil society have transformed their organizations into gravy trains. Everybody else in their organizations is indispensable. They deliberately maintain subservient boards and a demoralized and terrified workforce. They are demi-gods, they are untouchable. They appoint and control their so controlled boards and subjugate the often clueless characters into submission. They are never audited by anyone, and if they do, the reports remain confidential; meant for their safes.
A very negligible number of these wealthy activists usually decide to retire altogether. They, however, cannot leave without planting proxies in positions of influence in the organization. Politics is a natural enticement for these retirees. They haplessly arm-twist their lowly, impoverished and brainwashed program beneficiaries, into voting them into Member of Parliament, governors, and senators, etc.
Antonio Gramsci, an Italian sociologist, once said that “Civil society promotes forms of false consciousness which serve their interests.” That truism by Gramsci has been vindicated time and again. It is perplexing that whereas most of these Rich Activists of civil society are the forefront in agitating for government’s transparency and accountability, they are usually the worst culprits. They are engaged in primitive accumulation of wealth, at the expense of the poor communities they are supposed to work for.
These rich Activists of civil society live off deceiving their donors that without them, the apocalypse would come next day. They are masters of conflict, strategy, organization and technique. They are board room vanquishers-articulate, informed, strident and educated. They have vowed to die in office, rich and powerful. They’re callous and cold-blooded in their kingdoms. In there, they make the rules…..
Do you know any of these guys? They’re many!!!
We recently exposed how Mike Njeru was involved in the NYS scam that has cost taxpayers up to 3B.
The Devolution ministry had also retained public relations companies as media advisers, including Transcend Media Group (TMG).
Transcend Media Group, for instance, received Sh49.6 million in May 2015 “in respect of event concept cost for hosting Kibera Youth Empowerment Programme” – a presidential function that lasted only a few hours. Mind you there is always a presidential budget for this.
The same company was paid Sh7.9 million for publicity and roll-out of NYS re-branding and Sh48.9 million for delivery of an interim report on consultancy on NYS rebrand contract.
In January 2015, Transcend Media Group was also paid Sh71.2 million for “publicity roll-out of National Youth Service Re-branding” and “implementation of NYS media flighting” and a further Sh32.6 million “for offering consultancy services for the rebranding of NYS.”
Documents indicate that Transcend Media Group, which is also offered many other services to the ministry of devolution, was paid Sh49.6 million for “event concept cost for hosting Kibera Youth Empowerment Programme”. This included organising the evening event to launch a street lighting project on December 11 last year that was attended by the President, Deputy President William Ruto and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.
It’s now emerging Transcend media which has been mentioned in dozens of scandals is also a beneficiary of the Afya House looting that is put at a 5B figure. It’s unclear as to what Mike Njeru was supplying to be awarded the Sh100M. MOH scandal will remain one of the biggest that ever hit the country despite serious sanitization by the state agencies.
Mike Njeru and Transcend fraud cases dates back to 2003 where he billed IEBC with 200M when Transcend maliciously obtained the IEBC tender through the back door.
We’ve established that Transcend Media some of the work it does is charged at extortionist rates disproportionate to the work done, it has been paid millions of shillings for doing nothing beyond colluding with rogue State officials to dream up phantom jobs.
We have established that TRANSCEND MEDIA GROUP some of the work it does is charged at extortionist rates disproportionate to the work done, it has been paid millions of shillings for doing nothing beyond colluding with rogue State officials to dream up phantom jobs.
Questions exists on how TRANSCEND MEDIA group acquired the lucrative tenders at the NYS during Anne Waiguru tenure at the ministry of devolution. We can authoritatively confirm that these tenders at NYS did not just come out of the blues but through a well-orchestrated web that is deeply rooted in the Transcend Media Group Management. Apparently we have been able to establish that Tony Gatheca (CEO and co-founder Transcend Media Group) has a blood sister called Winnie Wambugu.
Winnie Wambugu was at some point a close friend and advisor to Anne Waiguru. This explains why the multiple highly priced multimillion tenders were awarded to Transcend Media Group.
Ms Waiguru, who resigned last November and is under investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission over the loss of Sh791 million at NYS, is said to have hired advisers and consultants to work in her office for roles that could be performed by civil servants.
The Devolution ministry had also retained public relations companies as media advisers, including Transcend Media Group (TMG).
Transcend Media Group, for instance, received Sh49.6 million in May 2015 “in respect of event concept cost for hosting Kibera Youth Empowerment Programme” – a presidential function that lasted only a few hours. Mind you there is always a presidential budget for this.
The same company was paid Sh7.9 million for publicity and roll-out of NYS re-branding and Sh48.9 million for delivery of an interim report on consultancy on NYS rebrand contract.
In January 2015, Transcend Media Group was also paid Sh71.2 million for “publicity roll-out of National Youth Service Re-branding” and “implementation of NYS media flighting” and a further Sh32.6 million “for offering consultancy services for the rebranding of NYS.”
Documents indicate that Transcend Media Group, which is also offered many other services to the ministry of devolution, was paid Sh49.6 million for “event concept cost for hosting Kibera Youth Empowerment Programme”. This included organising the evening event to launch a street lighting project on December 11 last year that was attended by the President, Deputy President William Ruto and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.
The event lasted from about 5 pm to 10.30 pm on the eve of Jamhuri Day at the DC grounds in the expansive slum.
There were about a dozen tents, two platforms — one for the President’s entourage and the other for guests. Entertainment was largely sourced from groups in the slums although some national artistes like gospel singers Gloria Muliro and Bahati also performed.
Well a cool ksh.50million for only 5hours! Is Ok! Transcend Media Group is indeed a growing business
It is important to note that another company was Alpha Mercantile which supplied plastic water tank and sugar. The payments were Sh6.7 million and Sh7.5 million in that order. The company was registered in December 2013 under the ownership of Njeru Mucheru, Simon Migwi and Dainah Wanjiru. So if you think we are hitting at TMG think twice.
These incidents point to abuse of consultancy in government with the perpetrators using it to cover up their financial greed. Transcend Media Group used Winnie Wambugu a personal friend to Anne Waiguru to loot the public coffers. Nothing is further from truth that makes this TMG a briefcase consultant hell bent on sucking blood our of Kenyan tax payers. TGM forms the category of the super-paid public servants largely made of campaign financiers and political loyalists, and close family members of the people in power.
Meanwhile it is important to mention here that CEO and co-founder Tony Gatheca’s uncle Mr Wanjiki Muchemi was a solicitor General in the Kibaki Government. Keep in Mind that during the same period of the grand coalition Government Michael Njeru was the errand boy for Raila Odinga. This exclusively explains why the duo could land lucrative Government tenders from both sides of the coalition. Michael Njeru is the chairman of the Transcend Media Group.
Among other Government tenders that Transcend Media Group acquired dubiously include the current tender at Kenya Power that many people across board feel that it wasn’t acquired in accordance to procedure. The Current Kenya Power MD is facing a case in court over several malpractices at the company.
It was a long day for former Devolution CS Waiguru when she appeared before the PAC to answer to questions on the NYS that is estimated to have cost taxpayer upto 2B.
Ben Gethi who’s at the center has already been grilled by the committee in which he denied involvement in the heist despite million discrepancies attaching him to the scandal .
Kabura who’s sworn in an affidavit to be a protege of Waiguru who allegedly called her onboard from the saloon business she was engaging and turned into an overnight millionaire. Her arrogant testimony left many in shock during PAC grilling.
During her appearance , the Former Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru yesterday accused powerful Government operatives of colluding with business people to loot Sh1.6 billion from the National Youth Service (NYS).
Among those Ms Waiguru named in documents handed to MPs were Farouk Kibet, an aide to Deputy President William Ruto, whom she claimed was constantly on the phone with prime suspect Ben Gethi in the days before the theft was executed.
Waiguru told members of the PAC that Gethi and Farouk had 262 phone calls between them before and during the transactions through companies associated with another key suspect, Josephine Kabura.
Waiguru termed Kabura as a puppet of the cartel of Gethi and his operatives who are powerful individuals in government.
In a clear exoneration move , claimed that the said cartel had set aside Sh200 million for a smear campaign that would frustrate investigations, in a super scheme to shake detectives off at every turn.
Waiguru has been named by various witnesses as the mastermind of the scandal, including claims by her former PS Mangiti that she issued illegal instructions, including in the hiring of Adan Harakhe to the non-existent position of Deputy Director General of the NYS.
Harakhe was subsequently designated as one of the people with authority to incur expenditure at the ministry.
With everyone shifting blames and committed to demonize the other and investigative bodies so far not giving any substantial direction as to the real thieves , Kenya Insights has reviewed past tweets of slain Jacob Juma . Juma tweets have become truth reference lately in his death.Jacob was also known for wide intelligence network that he used to bust the corrupt deals. Could they be holding stint of truth? Be the judge ;
The elusive master-mind of NYS scam, BENSON GETHI uses an office that was given as a gift to William Ruto at China Wu Yi center in Kilimani.
By Nicholas Olambo
The entire month of October has been declared a taxpayers’ month to appreciate every hustler paying the taxman his dues. As KRA (Kenya Revenue Authority) runs this month long futile PR exercise, its rogue officials, cartels and rogue port officials are in bed.
Just yesterday KRA officers impounded two Range Rovers disguised as clothes. As usual, the two high-end cars and six hundred bicycles in a 40ft container were from the UK and destined to Uganda. As usual, they were not declared in an attempt to evade tax. This dirty business is booming under the watch of KRA and may not stop any soon because KRA’s senior officials and government officials are the major beneficiaries.
It’s no longer news that there is a string of cartels that collude with KPA (Kenya Ports Authority) and KRA officials to import big cars into the country fraudulently as goods on transit and evading tax and duty payments in the process. Not long ago, KRA recalled over 120 vehicles which were illegally imported by cartels in Uganda and Britain.
These vehicles that were declared as transit goods to Uganda but ended up in the local market have outstanding tax issues. It’s not a new trend; KRA has been sleeping on the job failing to hit its tax collection target because of its rogue officials who foster these crimes are never seriously brought to book.
George opanga is a KRA official known to be colluding with the cartels, operating alongside businessman Elijah Girimani, these two have been behind a conspiracy to evade tax by procuring uncustomed goods and George fraudulently messing up with KRA’s Simba online system. They are being put in and out of custody, delaying justice because they have ‘stolen’ enough to hire canning lawyers.
The courts are also big obstacles to bringing these criminals to face justice through serious punishment. KRA is on record pleading with the courts to deny the accused bails as they are flighted risks and their associates are being tracked by investigators.
They are the brains behind the importation of stolen luxurious cars, registration without payment of requisite tax like they did in July in respect to a Range Rover at JKIA customs warehouse. The dirty deal saw the taxman lose over six million shillings.
Girimani who denies all the charges brought against him is one unscrupulous businessman who procured uncustomed goods having knowledge that import duty amounting to over Shs 4.5 million had not been deposited at National Transport and Safety Authority offices in Upper Hill.
Officials that cause the taxman these millions of losses are simply arraigned in court then given small bails, literally some mean cash that they pay and walk free. KRA staffers, Benard Ong’ayo, Nicholas Ambala and Fredrick Mwendia have been charged with conspiracy to evade payment of duty.
The racket that was launched in February is lenient, failing to net the cartels. They continue to operate as anonymous because some of them or their clients are high and mighty in the government. Water CS Eugene Wamalwa is a known beneficiary/ victim of the complicated KRA tax evasion syndicate.
His Range Rover that was that was deregistered was among the over 120 vehicles that were recalled by the tax agency. A whole cabinet minister who should be leading by example had his luxurious car, Range Rover V8 model (made in 2015) operating with a fake plate belonging to an Isuzu truck.
Vehicles stolen in the United Kingdom find their way into the Kenyan market through these dirty deals, Eugene’s Range was imported as house hold goods, in fact, cushions and couches. Nothing has been done to him. The lame excuse is blamed on faceless cartels as KRA hides in the desperate statement that some buyers are innocent customers. They simply lack guts to go for the big fish.
Tax evasion is a serious crime but the taxman only works round the clock to fleece the straining Kenyan any penny in his pocket. Now they are targeting to tax the shs 200 you send to your mother or your girlfriend via M-pesa and leaving the war on cartels unfinished. They claim to be interested in playbills/ till numbers.
M-pesa is registered, and the records are there to show all the transactions, KRA should go for the banks like Equity staff stationed in Namanga and other suspected banks like Cooperative Bank of Kenya, Commercial Bank of Africa and National Bank of Kenya that collude with cartels. Clearing and Forwarding firms and people in business like Anthony Maingi of Helix Company and Nelson Mugo Mwanzia of Excess Luggage Ltd for fraudulently conspiring or evading tax and duty payments.
Retired soccer legend was rushed to hospital after he collapsed Wednesday while watching a football match at Toyoyo, Nairobi. Medical personnel who rushed him to the hospital said he was not breathing well amid complaints of hunger. The legend famed for ‘Kadenge na mpira’ phrase had been ailing a few weeks but got better and was discharged.
The story of the kind of life the legend is living has been told a million times, but it lands on deaf years of the government. Kenya is known for caring less about its sports legends when girlfriends and family members of sports officials are given free rides and accommodations to Olympics.
The manner in which sports are treated in this country is so biased that some benefit at the expense of others. Soccer is the biggest sport in the world, but it’s not treated with the same respect in Kenya despite the country having produced some of the best players in the region.
We are not strangers to the number of times Harambee Stars players have complained of unpaid allowances or have been on the go slow for the same reason. This has affected the performance of the national to the extent of toppling them from being a top team in Eastern Africa.
The Kenya that would hold soccer greats like Nigeria, Cameroon in the mid-nineties is no more due to poor leadership and lack of government support. The majority of Kenyan soccer players are from Western and Nyanza; the regions have no proper stadia or any good soccer facility to write home. Scouting of new talents is mostly done in Nairobi locking out many upcoming soccer stars in those parts of the world.
Not just Joe Kadenge, the entire soccer fraternity is not treated like athletics. Over 90% of the runners are from Rift Valley, that’s where scouting is done though neighboring regions like Kisii has produced good long distance runners too, Western has the potential to produce short distance runners, but the focus remains only in North Rift.
The region (Eldoret) boasts of the good sports facilities, 64 Stadium received a good face lift, in fact; Olympic trials were held there. Athletics legends have been appointed to the administration of the sport they once excelled in. The 1972 Olympic legend Kipchoge Keino who is now tainted by corruption is the chairman of Nock (National Olympic Committee of Kenya).
Kadenge is ignored and left to languish in abject poverty but God forbid the day the worst will happen, the government will rush to take care of the funeral expenses, politicians will cling on any desperate reason and tell stories to identify with the family. They will not mean any good but that will only provide a better platform for politics and opportunity to woo the community’s vote.
It’s a shame that the most celebrated soccer legend in Kenya collapsed due to hunger, he is a hustling taxi driver who recently could not afford kshs 95,000 for the eye operation and had to depend on good wishers to step on the bill.
The hawkers in Nairobi’s busy business hub, Eastleigh are left in desperation state after being left in darkness following failed promises from the Nairobi County Government and National Lands Commission to give them back their land illegally being held by Private Developers, Alfa Traders.
The parcel of land that the Alfa Traders claims has been a market space for the hawkers before they were violently displaced on the takeover. Ombudsman came to the Hawker’s relief in their report that found the land to be a public entity open for the traders and at the same time figured out the alleged land lease held by the dubious contractors was fake.
The commission recommended the Nairobi County Government to repossess the land and allocate it to the hawkers and also for them be compensated for losses incurred when their stalls were destroyed during Alfa Traders violent takeover. Commission also recommended for the Chief Valuer of lands at City Hall to be relieved of his duties since he was caught to be part of the land grabbing cartel.
The National Lands Commission present during the Ombudsman’s Eastleigh report launch, promised to give a conclusive report on the ownership of the contested land as early as the start of September.
Two months down the line, nothing has been forthcoming from both camps with Kidero mum, no cessation steps, all charlatans in City Hall seated pretty, NLC hasn’t given their report as promised. The hawkers are left asking themselves on who to turn to next since their operations have been stalled. The Business Community in Eastleigh ordered them out of their few available spaces.
Deputy President, Ruto recently attempted to intervene and his recommendation to have the traders move to a small piece of land around Pangani wasn’t welcomed.
Kenya Insights has established that despite all the orders on the Duping contractors to stop construction, nothing has changed and they’re continuing regardless. It gets interesting that the illegal construction is ongoing under a full police guard. Someone in the system has been compromised to facilitate the illegal construction. From our investigations, the developers have resorted to a bi-weekly construction that happen only at night with gun tooting plainclothed officers guarding the premise.
Who’s misusing state resources in frustrating the helpless hawkers, why is the the county government feigning disability in dealing with the private developers, why can’t Kidero adopt the Ombudsman recommendation to weed out the corrupt elements in his office that are facilitating land grabbing. Why is NLC silent on the report, why haven’t they released time within promised timeframe?
Who will guard the hawkers from the bully richmen who are grabbing every single parcel of available public land. The County Government seen to have gone deep into bed with the wealthy businessmen together with NLC leaving poor traders in desperate states with tightened cost of living.
Kenya Insights, embarks on a lengthy justice trail for the traders and will push the agenda to shame the bully traders and the forces frustrating the hawkers steps.
They came, they spied, and they conquered! No sooner had the soil dried up on the mass grave resulting from the termination of the Kenyan cases than the pieces of the mysterious Hague trials began to come together. The role played by some of the who’s who in the legal fraternity, some of whom were involved in the pre-ICC investigations into the violence, is particularly intriguing.
Nobody can alter the fact that following the bungled presidential election of 2007, Kenyans slaughtered each other. In the madness, 1350 family members, friends, and neighbors were murdered, and 650,000 countrymen were displaced. Various local inquiries were held. Six suspects were indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague: Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Joshua Sang, Francis Muthaura, Henry Kosgey and Major General Muhammed Hussein Ali. They famously became the ‘Ocampo Six.’ All of them got off scot free.
In March 2015, a professor wrote an article in one of the local dailies. The hawk-eyed professor had been reading the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor’s 26 August 2013 pre-trial brief for the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta in close detail. The professor was surprised to see two of the names that the prosecutor was linking to alleged witness tampering. She was surprised because she recognized the names from the independent national investigations into the turmoil.
One of them, a lawyer, had links to the Commission of Inquiry on Post-Election Violence (the Waki Commission, named after its chairman, Justice Philip Waki). In building up their case against the ‘Ocampo Six,’ the OTP had significantly relied on this Commission’s findings. According to the article, the lawyer was “in Kenyatta’s defence team”. But, the professor also recognized him from the Waki Commission, “when he served as a victim’s lawyer and, as such, attended many of the Commission’s public and in camera hearings”.
Together with two others also working for the defence, in February 2011 the lawyer had, according to page 46 of the OTP brief**, approached three witnesses with the intention of identifying other witnesses and buying their silence. The OTP had claimed that the lawyer in question is Mbuthi Gathenji, identifying him as “a lawyer working for defence”.
As late as mid-2015, Gathenji, a renowned lawyer, was also the chairman and board member of the Centre for Justice for Victims of Crimes Against Humanity (CJCH). He was quoted in a report by reliefweb.int which described Gathenji as “the head of an organization representing several victims.” The NGO’s website (now inactive) also described it as a Kenyan NGO, founded as a result of the post-election violence (PEV). It provided legal and technical assistance to victims. Furthermore, the website confirmed that the NGO had indeed participated in the Waki Commission, specifying that: “The Centre invited the intervention of the International Criminal Court as early as April/May 2008.” To further strengthen his work with PEV victims, in March 2011, Gathenji also had a short stint as the legal representative of the victims in the ICC’s Case against Ruto, Sang and Kosgey.
It remains unclear when he shifted alliances. But by 15 April 2016, during the Thanksgiving rally hosted by President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to mark the end of the ICC cases, Gathenji was duly introduced as one of the Kenyan lawyers who worked for Kenyatta in his ICC case. The introduction was done by Kenyatta’s chief lawyer in Kenya, Ken Ogeto.
Does this amount to a conflict of interest? That can certainly be argued. And, taking into account the Prosecutor’s allegations of witness tampering, it could suggest a whole lot more. Gathenji may have used his knowledge from his work with the Waki Commission and the ICC’s victims unit to supply information to the defence that they would not otherwise have had. At the very least he must have bolstered their position. Yet, there are even more puzzling links between some of the lawyers of the ‘Ocampo Six’ and potential ICC prosecution witnesses.
Ken Ogeto, Gershom Otachi and Evans Monari
The circus and drama surrounding the Prosecutor’s frustration in getting the police to testify now comes into play. During the investigations in 2010, the OTP requested sworn statements from a number of Kenyan state local officials, including five provincial commissioners, six provincial police officers and dozens of district commissioners who were stationed in the areas where the violence broke out. In October of the same year, these officers went to court in Kenya to block their summons to testify. Their lawyers were none other than Ken Ogeto (who later turned out to be, at first Muthaura’s, and then Kenyatta’s ICC lawyer), as well as Gershom Otachi and Evans Monari (who both later reappeared as Major General Ali’s ICC lawyers during the 2011 pre-trial stage).
Expecting the local officials to willingly give testimony against either Muthaura or Ali would have been naive. Ali was in charge of the police at all levels. Muthaura was the permanent secretary to the cabinet and head of the public service, roles that allowed him to have influence over the provincial and district commissioners. And, both these local and top national figures shared the same lawyers. Moreover, Monari was first assigned to Ali by a government body during the Waki Commission’s investigation in 2008. So, it is likely that Monari also attended the Commission’s public and in camera hearings. At these hearings, he probably already heard the evidence, if any, against Ali which would have been passed along to the ICC.
Did some of these lawyers work extra hard to block any testimonies by local officials who could potentially incriminate their (soon to be) clients at the ICC?
Ali’s lawyers were quick to point out during the ICC’s confirmation of charges hearing that the OTP had failed to show that the police were part of a criminal plan and that Ali led/contributed to that project. Ironically, the same lawyers were part of the legal machinery that had made it impossible for the OTP to collect crucial evidence from officers in the first place!
Rewards for a job well done
In their last show of might to the ICC to mark the end of their cases, Kenyatta and Ruto put on their peacock hats and strutted and paraded these lawyers in front of the public, to thank them, together with others, during their celebrations at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru in April. Today, after fighting the ‘good’ fight, these lawyers all hold comfortable positions in the government, peacefully enjoying the privileges of playing court jester to the king. In April 2015, after the termination of all the Kenya cases in The Hague, Ogeto and Otachi got appointments to lead parastatal boards. Ogeto is the chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Advisory Board, while Otachi is the chairperson of the Geothermal Development Company. Meanwhile, Mbuthi Gathenji is a country assembly (a local government), legal advisor. There is no record of a government appointment for Monari.
Clearly, it took many years for the OTP to realize that it was dealing with a complex justice web. When it started to do so, the web was already so intricately woven that it was impossible to see through it. Even a veteran spider could not have made heads or tails of it.
Disclaimer: This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of www.ke-insights-staging.hbgtjqf6-liquidwebsites.com or its Editors. We welcome opinion and views on topical issues. Email:[email protected]
It was a normal day for Alice* going about her duties in the house unknown to her, the boss had evil plans in place. Alice, a 17 year old girl was working for Ng’ang’a family as a maid. On 27th September, the hugely built man pounced on the tiny girl in a horrible, painful rape ordeal that went for close to one hour in his home.
Kenya Insights has gathered, the monster is not new to raping and previously, he raped and impregnated his sister in law, the matter unfortunately was solved within the family and he escaped justice. The raped lady just gave birth the other day.
The neighbors told KI when we visited his home in Ruiru that the man is a notorious abuser who often beat his wife, a mother of three to pulp. The wife has been suffering silently and nursing injuries from consistent brutality from the beast of a husband but like the rest of many domestic violence cases , she has often opted to stick with the man who exhibits killer motives.
A day to Ng’ang’a raping the minor maid, he had as usual beat his wife brutally injuring her and on this day, she fled away leaving him behind the kids and Alice. He came home ealier on the day that she was to rape the young lady.
Alice told Kenya Insights that he came home unusually earlier perhaps maybe because the wife wasn’t around, unknown to her the reason for coming earlier were different.
The kids were in the house under care of the maid. As Alice was making her way to the kitchen, he cornered and pounced on her in the corridors. Covered her mouth, held a knife to her face threatening to kill her should she shout, helpless and terrified, Ng’ang’a repeatedly raped the girl and as if that was not much evil, sodomized her. All these were happening with the kids in the house.
After struggling with the shame of a man, Alice finaly managed to find a space and ran out to the neighbours who took her to the hospital and Muthuga Police Station to report the rape case. Ng’ang’a immediately went into hiding knowing what he has done.
When we visited the police station, they said the matter was being investigated and he remains at large. But we’re unconvinced the police are doing enough to find his whereabouts and being a repeat offender, being out there walking free is a threat to lives of his potential victims.
“He has destroyed my life completely, I was a virgin and preserved myself all through just for him to come around and ruin me completely. I only planned to start having sex once I’m married. I never knew things would end up horribly to me like this. I curse my life, my life is ruined. ” Teary Alice narrating her story to us. Honestly, it was a disturbing scenario and emotional listening to her narrate all this.
Because of privacy issues, we can’t post her face and we’ve used a different name from the real to conceal her identity. Alice after finishing her fourth form in Meru, came to Nairobi to stay with her sister in April this year and found a job as a maid to the family of Ng’ang’a. She has worked for four months and during all this time, she tells us the man has never talked to her though he spends most of his time in the house. He’s always in bad moods.
Alice fortunately is under full medical attention but the barbaric act still haunts her with sleepless nights. From health records, she’s had to be put on reconstructive surgery since beast raptured her rectum in the sodomy act. Ng’ang’a has more than a crime to answer, the wife and him must be held liable for employing a minor according to the law only persons over 18 years should be. The case of Alice is of many maids out there who are faced with such a like men. You can be sure of many cases of maids being raped that go unreported and many lives continue to destroyed we therefore as privileged medium, use the opportunity to highlight and expose the beasts in the society. Ng’ang’a has since abandoned his home in Ruiru, the wife is nowhere to be found either. He runs a logistic company Aeromarine.
We also notified Healthcare Assistance Kenya (HAK) to offer the much needed psychosocial support and provide linkages to help and assist Alice access treatment and how to prevent infections such as HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
HAK also called the Police Headquarters to report the matter and find out why Mugutha Police Station had not swiftly acted on the rape case reported.
HAK is the first and the only organization in Kenya which runs a GBV Rapid Response Call Centre where women Kenyans can call 1195 Toll FREE to report Gender Based Violence , Rape.
HAK’s hotline 1195 is for survivors of Sexual and Gender Base Violence and purely for real time rescue missions and referral to other ideal GBV service providers.
Kenya Insights further gathers that Ng’ang’as filthy trends backdates to his Kanunga high school days in Kiambu where he was expelled from school because of attempt to rape a form one boy. Back in the year 1998. He was notorious in homosexuality in school. Then he used to live in Thika. And at some point he was a matatu conduct route 237 Thika.
We’re tasking the police to move with highest speed to arrest this man and bring justice to the young girl whose life as she says it has been totally destroyed.
If you know of Ng’ang’a’s whereabouts call and report to the nearest police station and you can also write to us [email protected] also if you have related stories that need highlighting don’t hesitate writing to us.
WARNING: Some of the images you might find graphic
On Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, the Somali militant group al-Shabab carried out an assault on Kenya’s Westgate Mall in one of the worst terrorist attacks in the country’s history. A group of young gunmen stalked the halls and stores of the upscale Nairobi shopping center, and methodically murdered at least 67 people. News of the attack seized the world’s attention, dominating international media coverage for days.
But much of that reporting was confused and contradictory, mirroring the litany of false and misleading statements made by Kenyan authorities. There were between 10 and 15 gunmen, the interior minister said. Two or three of them were Americans, said another cabinet minister. Together they took hostages, used heavy explosives, and pulled off a three-day siege, according to other government sources. Except none of these things were true.
Far from a dramatic three-day standoff, the assault on the Westgate Mall lasted only a few hours, almost all of it taking place before Kenyan security forces even entered the building. When they finally did, it was only to shoot at one another before going on an armed looting spree that resulted in the collapse of the rear of the building, destroyed with a rocket-propelled grenade. And there were only four gunmen, all of whom were buried in the rubble, along with much of the forensic evidence.
During the roughly three-and-a-half hours that the killers were loose in the mall, there was virtually no organized government response. But while Kenyan officials prevaricated, an unlikely coalition of licensed civilian gun owners and brave, resourceful individual police officers took it upon themselves to mount a rescue effort. Pieced together over 10 months from more than three dozen interviews with survivors, first responders, security officers, and investigators, the following account brings their story to life for the first time since the horrific terrorist attack occurred exactly two years ago.
One of the victims wreaths on pain
By late Saturday afternoon, all four gunmen were holed up in a storeroom at the back of Nakumatt. They never came out again. Most of the at least 67 people who were killed at Westgate died in the first hour of the attack, before any rescue effort had even begun. Kenyan security forces did not launch their operation until 4:00 p.m., by which time it was already too late: Most of those who would escape had already escaped; most of those who would be wounded had already been struck; and most of those who would die were already dead. It is likely that many of the victims bled to death in the slow hours between the start of the attack and the arrival of help.
The elite Recce Squad, eventually entered from the rooftop car park. Kenyan soldiers entered from the ground floor. Neither group was in communication with the other. Soon afterwards, there was a shootout on the first floor between the Recce Squad and the soldiers, in which the police unit’s commander was killed and another two officers were wounded. The remaining Recce Squad members pulled out of the operation in disgust, and the army, too, withdrew.
Recce Squad inside Westgate mall, Nairobi
After the friendly fire incident, Westgate became a military operation. Armored personnel carriers with heavy machine guns patrolled in front of the mall; soldiers with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades moved in and out; and sporadic gunfire and explosions echoed from within. On Sunday, Kenya’s interior minister claimed that there were as many as 15 attackers and that the siege was ongoing. By that time, however, the mall was mostly under the army’s control. On Monday, a rocket fired by the Kenyan army collapsed the back of the mall, dropping the rooftop car park into the basement, pancaking the room where the terrorists had taken shelter and throwing a thick plume of smoke into the Nairobi sky. The fire burned for days. Parked cars with full fuel tanks fell into the gaping hole and exploded like bombs.
The heat, toxins, and structural instability of the building kept FBI agents brought in to run the forensic investigation from gathering any evidence for weeks. When they finally set to work, what they found were the charred remains of three bodies, alongside parts of three assault rifles, in roughly the location where the storeroom had been — and far from any other human remains. The fourth gunman is also believed to have died in the fire. The fragments of spine and jaw recovered by the FBI were so burned, and at such high temperatures, that neither teeth nor DNA would have likely offered much clue to the assailants’ identities.
KDF soldiers making an entrance to the mall
Before and after blowing up the mall, the Kenyan army looted shops, broke open safes, and emptied tills. The looting was captured on closed-circuit television cameras and reported by business owners after they returned to the mall and found their shops ransacked and stock missing. A public inquiry into the disastrously ineffective security response was promised but never delivered. Somehow, Kenya’s interior minister managed to cling to his job for another 15 months. The army chief retired this spring, with full honors. Westgate reopened in July, nearly 22 months after the attack. Kenyan soldiers are still in Somalia, but they are now part of the multinational African Union force that protects the Somali government and fights al-Shabab, which still controls some parts of the countryside.
In April of this year, al-Shabab gunmen launched an attack in Garissa, in Kenya’s northeast, that was strikingly similar to Westgate. Four armed men broke into a university campus and rounded up students in a dormitory. After letting the Muslims go, they executed the others. One hundred and forty-eight people died that day, almost all of them young students. It was al-Shabab’s deadliest ever attack. For Kenya, Westgate was just the beginning.
Some of those caught up taking positions as dead bodies lay beside
The Commission of Inquiry promised by President Uhuru Kenyatta in the days following the attack has failed to materialize. A report on the attack tabled by a Joint Parliamentary Committee was rejected by the National Assembly. The KDF was reported to have prepared a report on its actions during the siege but this is yet to be published.
With the truth On What really transpired in the mall and questions hanging as to whether the terrorists were really killed, what have we learnt as a country to prevent any of such attacks, how equipped are the officers. The victims both surviving needed more than just financial compensation but the entire truth which will remain a mystery from the trend of events. Key questions that will not leave minds soon; Could the attack have been prevented? Why did they have to collapse the roof? What happened to the terrorists? Did they have a plan? When were the terrorists defeated? Could more people have been saved?
The killing of Businessman turned anti-corruption crusader, Jacob Juma is one that continue to cause more questions as intrigues continue to pile, many questions with no tangible forthcoming answers.
Jacob who was according to police reports gunned down by hitmen while headed home in May 5, is yet to get off the public’s eye who’ve waited with baited breath to know what exactly happened.
However, the wait could take much longer just like the rest of historical prominent assassinations. Detectives from the Investigations Department has thrown in the towel saying their investigations had hit a dead end writing to the Office of Public Prosecution to ignite a public inquest into Jacob’s murder in a bid to unravel the mysteries.
The DPP has since refered back the files to DCI Muhoro to do more investigations turning down the tribunal request they had made. Tobiko has instructed the detectives to do more including questioning witnesses not included in the submitted list.
Sirisia MP John Walukhe whom Juma’s relatives pointed fingers at for having bad blood with the slain has also been questioned amongst others like Jimmy Wanjigi, Ahmednasir and others in connection with the murder.
Jacob Juma is believed to have been fell by the State’s owned hitsquad and Opposition leaders have in several occasions reiterated that Juma was killed for his position in exposing corruption within Jubilee and especially the Eurobond saga.
Knowing the history of this country, it will take a complete system overhaul for the truth on what exactly happened and who killed Juma the rest are just sideshows to buy time. Extrajudicial killings has been on the rise in recent times a worrying trend.
Auditor General report has uneartheddisturbing inconsistencies within the office of AG Githu Muigai. The Office of the Attorney-General and Department of Justice had a total budget for the year 2014/2015 of Kshs.3,482,018,843 for both recurrent and development expenditure. However, the Office utilised a total of Kshs.3,002,775,301 resulting in an underutilization of Kshs.479,243,542 (13%) of the total budget.
Further, the office did not receive Kshs.801,509,542 (21%) of the planned exchequer releases to implement its annual objectives.
Examination of the recurrent account bank reconciliation statement revealed payments in cash book not in bank statement of Kshs.104,619,219.36 out of which Kshs.35,744,293 have been long outstanding and also payments in bank statement but not in cash book amounting to Kshs.53,132,463 out of which Kshs.45,162,116 have been long outstanding. Although the AG Office has explained that they have adjusted their cash book with Kshs.33,127,388 and Kshs.33,078,871 respectively and further explained that most of the payments in bank and not in cash book were pay advances that were paid by Central Bank of Kenya on their behalf to foreign banks, no analysis was provided to support and justify the adjustments. In the circumstances, the cash and cash equivalents balance of Kshs.93,871,592 30 could not be confirmed by the OAG.
The statement of receipts and payments reflects proceeds from domestic and foreign grants of Kshs.300,000,000 as at 30 June 2015. It was alleged that the donor agencies paid the funds directly to recipient projects/programs and the expenditure incurred thereon in form of Research, Studies, Project Preparation, Design and Supervision. However, no supporting documentation has been provided for audit review to confirm the amount received and spent by the Office of the Attorney-General and Department of Justice. Consequently, Auditor General notes thst it was not possible to confirm the accuracy and propriety of the revenue or expenditure of Kshs.300,000,000.
Further, Ouko highlighted weaknesses in the internal control systems of the AG office stating that there are no risk management policy in place during the year under review. No risk assessment was carried out to identify and address key areas of concern and document specific controls in response to identified risks – There is no evidence that management assessed the internal controls applicable to address any material weaknesses that could be inherent in the controls.
The report indicates, AG office has not produced operating manuals to guide key processes and controls for receipts from debtors/customers, payments to creditors, personnel, expenditure, assets and liabilities and investments. There was no operational plan for the year under review. Most systems of the Official Receiver are manual, the institution does not have an approved Information Technology (IT) strategic plan and security policy. The institution has no formal, documented and tested disaster recovery plan/emergency procedure in place, to guide on cases of emergency
Refer to the whistle blower report we published previously regarding the scandals at the East African Development Bank and the call to request the Director General Vivienne Yeda to step aside after 7 years of oppressive leadership at the Bank. Following the whistle Blowers dossier received by board members early June, Senior managers met with the Board members on the 15th July 2016 and were able to substantiate with evidence the details published about Vivienne Yeda, the Director General of EADB as true.
Despite the board members receiving collaborative evidence that what was written about Vivienne Yeda was the truth, Vivienne has been left to continue with her work as if nothing happened. More shocking details have emerged on how Vivienne Yeda has misappropriated the Bank funds in a number of ways as we shall explain in this article. Staff members are calling on the member states of the East African Development Bank including Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, to commission their respective auditor general’s offices to carry out an investigation on the actions of Vivienne Yeda and how she has squandered tax payer’s money. That she should be asked to step aside for the period of the investigations in order not to interfere with the investigations team. Despite the board members confirming the shocking revelations as true, they have done nothing to interdict her. You will know why no action has been taken in this article.
During the interview between the senior managers and the board members, the Directors were shocked to hear that staff never receive end of year bonuses even when the board has annually approved a budget of USD 65,000 annually for staff end of year bonuses. Vivienne has been drawing the entire USD 65,000 which ends up on her personal account. She normally channels such monies through the staff payroll which is managed by Deloitte to her personal account.
Such money is usually transferred to her account either at end of the year or beginning of the year. Investigations can be carried out at Deloitte to confirm the staff salary figures sent to them during these periods starting 2013/2014, 2014/2015 and 2014/2015. Staff members are still in shock that the Director General has been embezzling money meant for staff bonuses. Vivienne has also negotiated her salary increment with the board twice during her 7 years tenor at the helm of the Bank. The board approved both increments; one in the middle of her first five years and the second at the time when she was renewing her contract. Much as the board was shocked to learn that it’s only her who gets salary increments at the Bank.
The fact that she is the DG, Head of legal and Company secretary, she normally alters board minutes to indicate that he salary increment was to take effect one year back for the first increment and a couple of months back for the second increment. Looking at the staff payroll for the periods when her salary was increased, one would notice large sums of money which were channeled through the payroll to her account. Other such dubious payments have been taken out of the Bank to her account through the payroll. She uses the staff payroll to channel funds to her account because she knows the payroll is never scrutinized.
The former finance manager who resigned at the end of May this year was never allowed to look at the payroll because he would question such payments. We doubt that the board would approve bonuses and salary increments to only one person in the Bank. Red peppernews paper in Uganda and as per the whistle blower dozzier, informed you in their article of 13th July 2016 that staff don’t receive any form of motivation either through training and career enhancement or travel and exposure even when funds have been set aside for these purposes.
We confirm that unlike other previuos Director Generals, the Bank pays Vivienne both the profident fund, which she recieves annually and contributes towards her pension which she is supposed to receive when she leaves the services of the Bank. The annual provident fund payment is usually made directly to her account through the Bank’s SWIFT payment system and this appears in the general legder. The USD 65,000 mentioned above can not be her provident fund since it is paid out through the staff payroll. Towards the end of July 2016 even after the board had sat to discuss the whistle blowers report, she went a head to request HR to pay her pension through the end of July staff payroll. Pension is supposed to be paid when a staff member has left the services of the Bank.
But she wanted her pension paid out with the July salary. But after HR had consulted with the senior advisor to the DG, Mr. George Aaron, they declined to pay the pension to her because this would have been iregular. During last year, Vivienne requested finance department to pay her USD 175,000 calling it pension/provident fund in arrears which is fradulent. The finance department declined to pay the money to her account because she failed to provide clear documentation for the money. This needs to be investigated.
In 2014, the Bank was rated by AADFI as the best DFI in Africa.
This was after she had bribed the rating team to give her the top position. Much as one could say, this was good for the Bank’s image,it is not sustainable. The image of the Bank should be enhanced by improving gorvernance, systems, policies and structures in the Bank. At most, the rating agencies coud have been bribed when she is also doing much to improve the Bank. But this has not happened.
She has boosted of posting profits for the Bank, but this is all not true. A lot can be discovered in this area but we shall bring out on example when she has fradulently reported profits which is not real. The Bank is supposed to value all its assets annually and the valuation figures taken into consideration when reporting profits. The high the value of assets the higher the profits reports. Recently a firm was hired to value the Bank assets in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The firm carried out the valuatioin exercise in all the three countries and submitted the reports to the Bank. She was okay with the value of assets in Kenya and Uganda. Because the Bank’s assets in Tanzania returned a lower real market value than she had hoped for, she asked the firm to inflate the figures of the value of assets in Tanzania, but the firm refused. she instead hired another firm which re-valued the assets in Tanzania to give them a value of her choice.
If she had used the real market value as reported by the first firm, it would have reduced the amount of profits reported. But the fact that the second firm hired agreed to her demands, they reported a value which she wanted, and as thus, this helped her to report an increased amount of profits. The Bank money twice for the same service and the results of the assignment were compromised. In the June dossier, we reported that she reported a wrong Non-performing loans percentage to the board of 0.83% instead of 5% during the end of Feb 2016 boarding meeting held in Nairobi. This was to avoid reporting on some Kenyan projects like DARI, Abarderes and Benvar Estates which were non-performing.
Non-performing loans are supposed to be provided for and if the mentioned projects had been reported and provided for, they would erode most of the profits she was reporting to the board. These two examples show Vivienne has been reporting fraudulent profits to the board to give them the impression that the Bank is performing well, when its actually not performing that much and not growing at the same time. This is fraudulent and false reporting to the board and should be investigated and stopped. So many other lies have been told to the board. Believe it or not, this is not sustainable.
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 22: Director General of East African Development Bank Vivienne Yeda speaks during the 30th Annual Awards Gala hosted by The Africa-America Institute at Gotham Hall on September 22, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for The African-American Institute)
During the board which sat on the 14th July 2016, Vivienne falsified the portfolio report on the number and amount of projects approved and disbursed between January to July 2016. She reported some of the projects which were approved and disbursed in Q4 of 2015 as projects which were approved and disbursed in 2016 to confuse the board members since the previous dozzier had reported that only two projects had been approved for the entire bank between Jan to June 2016. All these lies are to show the board that she is performing when in real sense there are huge issues within the Bank. This can be verified with the Portfolio management unit in Bank, the chief internal auditor and the finance manager.
Board members were also shocked to learn that renovation of the Head office building on plot 4 Nile avenue cost the Bank (and the tax payer of East Africa) USD 6.6 million. The board did not know that the cost had escalated to this level because she did not seek board approval for the entire sum in one go. She presented the renovations budgets to the board in piecemeal. We believe USD 6.6 million could have put up a brand new building the size of the EADB head office and more. Of concern is that the contractors and the project managers who implemented the renovations were single sourced and the contracts negotiated and approved by herself. She has deliberately refused to put in place a procurement committee and at the same time the bank does not have a procurement expert to support these very expensive procurement contracts. We request that an audit in the processes and procedures of procuring and negotiating the renovations contract be investigated.
Experts can be called in to value the cost of the renovations to confirm that the work actually cost USD 6.6 million and that there was value for tax payers money. The renovations have gone on since 2012 until todate. The fact that the implementation team comprised her friends (project managers and architects who were handpicked from Kenya using a single sourcing method to manage the project), we believe the value of the contracts was inflated so as to give her kickbacks.
The same project managers and architects have been building a hotel and apartments for her in one of the national parks in Kenya which has just been completed. The construction of her hotel and apartments progressed at the same time with the office renovations and it is believed that money for some of the inflated office renovation bills went to her hotel construction.
Another building that has been renovated by the Bank whose renovation costs, value for money and the procedures followed to procure the service providers are being challenged, is a block of apartments commonly referred to as “block 4” in Naguru. The cost of USD 6.6 million mentioned above does not include the renovation costs for this block of apartments. This should also be investigated.
Senior managers have been shocked to hear that the information they provided to the board members confirming the allegations, even after the board chairman had assured managers that they were protected and therefore should not fear to say the truth, has licked to Vivienne including which manager mentioned what. Managers wonder why the board went on to ask the senior managers to expose themselves by revealing the truth, if they knew they were not going to take any action.
The result of this has exposed some managers to harassment and threats from Vivienne and her machinery. Some of these managers have received threatening phone calls indicating that something bad will happen to them and their families if they don’t stop revealing information about Vivienne Yeda.
The first whistle blower report and the red pepper article of 13th July reported that 99% of all international travels at the Bank are undertaken by Vivienne Yeda alone.
An analysis carried on the costs associated with her travels between 2013 and to date reveal that she spends not less than USD 135,000 per year on her travel related costs alone. This is a lot of money and therefore value for this money needs to be investigated.
As per the whistle blowers reported published in red pepper on the 13th July 2016, Vivienne Yeda refused to hire staff to fill all key vacant positions in the Bank and therefore heavily relies on the use of very expensive consultants who have cost the Bank a lot of money with no value for money. The Bank has a legal department with no lawyers at all. She single handedly sourced an international law firm called “Eversheds” based in London who have been doing the day to day legal work at the Bank. This law firm has todate cost the Bank USD 1.2 million to do work which would have ordinarily been done by the staff members in the legal department.
These colossal sums have been spent without a formal contract between EADB and Eversheds, (Atleast no staff member has seen the contract and the terms of engagement including the finance department that is always forced to prepare payments for such expenses. Noformal procurement procedures were followed and most importantly there is not value for money for the work this law firm has been hired to do for the Bank. It also emerged that Vivienne Yeda’s daughter who has been pursuing her studies in the UK worked at this law firm, raising question marks on the possible conflict of interest in giving this law firm huge sums of money. The work of eversheds, the procurement process and value for money should also be investigated.
The Bank received grants worth over USD 3 million from AfDB, DEG and KfW for various capacity building activities at the Bank. That fact that the Bank does not have a procurement committee and a procurement specialist; it becomes questionable how these huge contracts have been selected and awarded. Though for some grants especially from AfDB, the AfDB team got involved in the procurement of consultants though she still wanted to be fraudulent about the process. The fact that Vivienne Yeda single handedly approves the final bidders, to whom these consultancy contracts are awarded, raises several question marks. Some of the contracts cost over USD 900,000 per single consultancy contract.
The fact that key staff positions at the Bank are vacant due to the fact that several senior staff members have resigned because they could not continue working under such conditions. The capacity building interventions will not benefit the Bank much. For the Bank of less than 70 staff members, about 44 staff have resigned since 2012 todate. The systems and policies/operating guidelines being introduced in the Bank don’t add much value when the key users are not in their positions. In a letter written by African Development Bank after an audit they carried out at EADB in April 2016.
The report was addressed to Vivienne Yeda and signed by the Manager Portfolio Management Division atAfDB. The letter reads in part as an example “despite AfDB having given EADB guidance on procurement process for a credit cycle management consultancy firm, to undertake a credit management cycle documentation consultancy assignment at the Bank, Vivienne Yeda’s choice of the consulting firm to be selected was a Kenyan firm charging over USD 800,000 almost three times the price of the next candidate who charged below 300,000”. In AfDB’s opinion after reviewing the technical proposals and credentials of the other firms, the other two consultancy firms that had applied for the consultancy work were also well qualified to deliver the consultancy based on the terms of reference provided. It is possible that these consultancy contracts are inflated and the consultancy firms selected end up giving hefty kick backs to Vivienne Yeda. Most of the contracts with consultants and other service provider have been determined in this manner.
The African Development Bank audit report about EADB further reads in part, we quote “the AfDB officers who carried out the audit noted that, there were several bleaches regarding operational limits in treasury, bleaches in procurement guidelines, and non-compliance of policy in relation to credit approval of some of the high value transactions’. The report further read that “Management committee is effectively made of only the Director General (Vivienne Yeda) which we believe does not conform to best practice and does not exhibit good corporate governance”. These revelations make any one wonder why audit firms like KPMG who carries out quarterly audits at the bank for hefty sums of money have not been able to flag these weaknesses.
The Bank has an internal audit department, but the fact that they have been very critical of how Vivienne conducts bank business (they have reported to the board several times despite the board not taking any serious actions), she chose to frustrate them by not bothering about their reports. She instead chose to duplicate their role by hiring KPMG to carry out quarterly audit reviews at the Bank. Despite the fact that KPMG’s reports indicate that there are no issues at all at the Bank, they have cost the Bank and the tax payers money USD 382,000. We believe she retained KPMG to cover up her loot and since KPMG is looked at as a credible audit firm, the board members would not question their reports but also dismiss the issues raised by the internal audit. The annual financial audit is carried out by PWC, much as we are surprised that they have also not been able to raise a red flag (not even noticing that lots of money is chanelled through Vivienne Yeda’s account through the payroll, among other flaws) of the appalling situation at the Bank.
Vivienne Apopo signing a deal
When the whistle blower report which red pepper published on the 13th July 2016 first came out, Vivienne Yeda hired KPMG Kenya to come and investigate the source of the whistle blower dossier. It was surprising to see that a firm of KPMG’s caliber could accept to investigate the origin of the report as opposed to investigating the facts contained in the report. We believe they have been compromised by money. KPMG came into the EADB offices on the night of 23rd June 2016 in the absence of staff members and hacked into computers of all staff members to try and find out who might have originated the dossier but also to try and delete some of the documents that might be incriminating to Ms. Yeda. The fact that they copied information from hard discs of all staff computers, it is evident that all bank information is now in the hands of those individuals who took the information under the directive of Vivienne Yeda. KPMG went ahead to isolate some managers who were interrogated on 4th July 2016 and their statements recorded to try and find the originator of the dossier. KPMG Kenya has issued an invoice for USD 22,000 to be paid by the Bank (without any engagement letter and terms of reference) for investigating the whistle blower. This is not acceptable. She has hired full times services of an ex-police detective (a one Egessa) to try and investigate staff in efforts to identify the person who originated the dossier. This police detective together with one of the law firms which the Bank uses regularly have helped her to file a complaint which she has taken to Interpol asking them to give her additional protection (in disguise that her life is in danger) but also to give her permission to get staff phone records and also tap staff phone conversations.
This is not acceptable. She has hired full times services of an ex-police detective (a one Egessa) to try and investigate staff in efforts to identify the person who originated the dossier. This police detective together with one of the law firms which the Bank uses regularly have helped her to file a complaint which she has taken to Interpol asking them to give her additional protection (in disguise that her life is in danger) but also to give her permission to get staff phone records and also tap staff phone conversations.
The ex-police detective moves around office with a tape recorder recording staff conversation.
The reason it is being proposed that each EADB member state should commission their auditor general’s office to investigate the massive abuse of office and misuse of tax payers money at the regional Bank is that, each member state (Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania) contribute USD 4.5 million annually as their capital contribution towards the lending activities of the Bank. In other words, Yeda has at her disposal USD 18 million contributed annually by the member states from tax payers money in the hope that the Bank would lend out the money to befitting projects to promote social economic development among the member states.Seeing how the board has chosen to protect someone who is using tax payer’s money in this manner, one wonders why the governments should not channel this money in other useful projects if the Bank cannot get good leadership to enhance the mandate of the Bank. EADB should have been much bigger and visible that it is today if the Board had agreed to change the top leadership at the Bank.
This article reveals some shocking details as to why, despite all the information out there concerning Yeda’s abuse of power and office, she has remained in her office intact and untouchable. The Board members received the whistle blower dossier at the beginning of June 2016 as confirmed by Mr. Muhakanizi during the red pepper interview leading to the publication of 13th July 2016. The same was also confirmed by the chairman of the board on the 15th July 2016 when meeting senior managers of the Bank.
Anyone reading this would have expected the board to have taken immediate action (asking Vivienne to step aside for investigations jointly commissioned by the Bank member states to take place) but this has not happened. Usually under such circumstances, the board would convene urgently to hear from both sides, which they did (board sat one and a half months after they received the report). The board would recommend to the Governing Council of the Bank which comprises of the Ministers of Finance of the Bank Member states who have the powers to sack the Director General according to the charter that governs the Bank. 75% of the Governing board members must vote to sack her if she is to be fired.
Two weeks after the board confirming the allegations, the Director General is still going on with her work at the Bank as usual, and renovations and hiring of consultants is still going on. This procedure should naturally not apply under situations where it is clear that Bank funds have been misappropriated? Is has emerged that the board has remained divided on whether they recommend to terminate her contract or not. As opposed to normal practices in other financial institutions, EADB Board members are allowed to borrow from their own Bank (purely against good corporate governance practices). As earlier reported by the whistle blower and published in the 13th July red pepper, EADB board members borrow hefty sums of money from the Bank to run their personal businesses. Much as Mr. Muhakanizi in his interview with red pepper denied any board member applying for any loans from the Bank, we confirm that, in 2014 the Bank approved a loan of USD 4 million to Mr. Muhakanizi through a real estatescompany called Reunion Estates Ltd. The Bank approved a loan of USD 500,000 for another board member from Kenya called Mr. Francis Karuiru through his company “Edron Communications Ltd’ based in Kenya. Because of the above, board members have been compromised and therefore don’t want to make a firm recommendation to terminate the services of the mighty Yeda.
This being tax payers money, we call upon Governments to take action. The Ministers also don’t get detailed information from board members (who are their permanent secretaries) regarding the affairs at the Bank because of their vested interests which is purely a conflict of interest.
We also report that the Bank, its staff and assets are protected under diplomatic immunity. This means that Yeda and the Bank cannot be sued in local courts of law. This could also explain why she also went against the laws of the EAC member states that protects whistle blowers setting clear procedures to be followed when a whistle blower report comes out. It’s because of this immunity that she has had easy access to Interpol to start investigating who the author of the dossier could be so that the author is punished instead of the accused. A cover letter forwarding the whistle blowers report to the IGG and requesting them to launch an investigation into the abuse of office is attached to this dozzier, but because of the Bank’s immunity, it seems the IGG’s office lacks the Mandate to investigate the Director General.
We believe the immunity status was among others aimed at protecting the Bank and the tax payer’s money. Right now, the Bank’s diplomatic immunity is being used to protect an individual who has abused tax payer’s money. The rights of staff members are being infringed upon the fact that their phone conversations are being tapped; their phone records have been printed and investigated. These staff members are innocent and suffering because one person has bribed her way into impunity.
The auditor General offices among the Bank member states are called upon to investigate the allegations so that Vivienne can account for her actions. This will help retsorestability and growth at this regional Bank.
Graft has engulfed one of the most trusted real estate financing institutions the HF Group with the MD Frank Ireri on the limelight over lethal loans that could collapse the institution or destabilize its financial grounds.
The bank’s former credit manager Kevin Isika in his law suit against Housing Finance has accused institution of falsifying records giving investors and shareholders untrue picture of the financial base.
Kevin Isika in his lawsuit files that as of 29th March 2014, the company’s total assets were 33 billion and 12.5 billion is past due between 0-90 days and only 5 billion is classified as nonperforming. 1.48 billion projects incorrectly classified as normal yet they are nonperforming.
1.8 billion projects classified as (normal) but there are weaknesses which may impact the projects to sub standard if evaluated further. Loophole in interest calculation known by employees with customers benefitting from it.
Geoffrey Mwaura – Head of collections, Report attached detailing extortion from customers. Belinda Nganga – Head of legal and involved in extortion, report is attached in the court files. Geoffrey Kimaita – General manager liabilities, formerly collection, who has since resigned. Various reports detailing extortion and death threat to customers.
Mark Mactouff- Project clerk fired for fraud and forgery but despite being wanted by police. HFC has been unable to furnish information despite him being in the branch recently. He was warned by internal audit before he was arrested at the bank premises. He is actively involved in forwarding project cases to staff like Moses Manyara and Brenda Kagara.
Joseph Ngare – Head of internal audit, paid a massive fraud of Kshs 20 million but only a junior staffers at the branch were fired. Instrumental in covering up the fraud investigations. Even gave Kimaita, Kevin Isika’s report from the customer complaint. The report from Joseph Ngare cleared Kimaita.
Moses Ndungu – Assistant manager recoveries- involved in massive fraud. Estimated to be worth more than 1 billion on a salary of Kshs 134,000
Steve Kivuva – Former head of projects actively involved in HF. Record from a customer showed 1 million was given for project as “facilitation fee”. He bought an apartment from a customer at only 30% of the cost.
Kennedy Oketch – Former relationship manager projects- most of the NPL projects were under his watch. Still involved with HF. Close confidant of head of corporate Ian Mburu.
Insider Lending not reported to CBK
Ryan properties ltd- A Kshs 133 million project, the developers is HF’s group CEO Frank Ireri inlaw. The CFO went ahead to approve the loan without full disclosure and against advise from Credit manager.
Ecomaji – A Kshs 10 million unsecured loan. The borrower is CEO’s Frank nephew loan is in default.
Equatorial Nuts – An unsecured excess of Kshs 150m approved by CEO Frank alone.
Karrymart – A loan of Kshs 10m related to Equatorial Nuts which was loss making and clearly unable to pay. Approved by company CEO Sam Waweru alone.
Theta Grove ltd – A loan of Kshs 500m related to Equatorial Nuts which was no supported by credit and attempts made to disguise it as a normal loan. Was withdrawn and replaced by a direct loan to HFDI which was not withdrawn when CBK began investigation on insider loans.
Amazing tours & travel – A NPL loan whose attempts to recover were blocked repeatedly by group CEO Frank. The person is related to Head of Collection, who is rumored to be related to HF group CEO Frank.
Mugumo Court – Kshs 74m loan handed to the brother of a shareholder.
Shade Systems – Kshs 1.7m unsecured loan. Given to HF group Ceo Frank brother inlaw it has since gone bad.
OTHER MASSIVE FRAUD
A borrower ML600-0014099 applied for a loan of Kshs 7m on 11/06/2014 which was approved on 3/07/2014 offer letter given on 4/07/2014 the loan defaulted from 3rd Month after disbursement January 2015. The borrower CRB report indicated customer has 11 nonperforming loans with total value of Kshs 32.898.
All HF branches are involved in a form of fraud known as “Evergreen loans” Evergreen loans are given to the best of corporate customers but have to undergo a cleanup period (paid to zero) every year. The branches version involves giving customers an unsecured loan at about Kshs 2 Million for 90 days and continuously renewing it every 90 days. Little or no payments are made and a number of these businesses given these loans do not exist or are associated with the branch.
Valuations
HF has a list of valuers. Before 2014 Crystal valuers was performing 100% of all valuations. to add to that Dayton valuers, Paul Wambua valuers, Royal Valuers. All who have in one way or another been invloved with fraudulent valuation.
The HF relationship Manager has brought 3 NPL which total nearly Kshs 500m. This account have never made any payments (pampa grill, Tina holding and unlimited directors) The relationship manager has never been investigated.
CM Construction- As per the court filings as indicated by Isika the contractor of HF Komarock project has several unsecured loans and in 2016 had excess of Kshs 300m prepared for approval. the contractor admitted that he had renovated the group CEO’s Frank Ireri’s house an obvious conflict of interest as stated by Kevin Isika
The corporate manager has Frequesntly processed loans that he verbally indicated he does not support states Isika in the court files, but the corporate manager says he was directed by Sam waweru HF company CEO and Frank Ireri group CEO, those taht have gone bad by 2016 include;
Kiyana ltd, Kshs 54m approved by Frank alone.
Tyre Zetu Kshs 24m CEO Frank personally instructed credit department to remove the name from CBR report despite having arrears of 70 days back in 2016 claims Isika in the Court files.
During the last term’s fire fiasco that clobbered most high schools in the country with scores of schools razed, murmurs of cartels were heard with many pointing fingers at the exams leaking faction.
It was also blamed that the publishing firms conspiring with corrupt head teachers were unhappy with Education CS Fred Matiang’i strict audit policies. A cartel also exists between County Education officials and respective headteachers where they conspire to inject unnecessary particulars in the fee structure and split the loot on maturity.
Parents end up being the victims of this buffoonery and plain robbery. This has been shown in exorbitant fee statements across many schools.
For example in St Georges girls, the school wanted to add new facilities in an already congested area. So the principal and administration imposed 20,000 on all students compulsory. For those who went without it they got chased home.
Concerns from this are the orphans, poor children. How would an ordinary casual labourer, newspaper vendor or jobless parent who’s basic needs are even a struggle be able to afford that !?? Charity is voluntary. Apparently the ministry of education approved of it. I hear it’s happening in alot of schools but it’s not fair.
Here’s a copy of the fee structure;
The school is near statehouse and KNEC on Dennis Pritt Road. Normally, parent’s approval must be sought before inclusion of extra particulars in the school fees in the case of St Georges under Principal Mrs Rukunga, imposed the 20K on parents this is unfair if not criminal. Such burglary is denying bright students from getting quality education of not keeping the out of school in totality. Shame on you the Principal and Kenya Insights urges Education CS to jump into the poor students help.
This ploy is not limited to this school alone and is replicated nearly in all schools a disturbing trend that is making basic education extremely expensive competing with tertiary levels. We’re hoping the no nonsense CS Fred Matiangi is going to crack a whip on these menaces frustrating education.
Beyond its extensive connections in Kenya’s government and political class, Safaricom also has a war chest full of cash reserves, and one of the largest advertising budgets in Kenya. You will not find the truth about Safaricom on mainstream media.
TV, radio and newspaper print editor’s cannot publish stories portraying Safaricom negatively because it is one of the media’s biggest advertiser. They risk losing a lucrative budget worth in advertising across their multiple media channels. Instead, they dance to Safaricom’s tune.
What is often buried and left out in staged media campaigns, is Safaricom’s reputation of stealing ideas from young companies, bullying and using its connections to lock out competitors? Safaricom’s monopoly has had negative ripple effects on the Kenya’s competitive landscape by locking out innovation. Ask any young computer geeks of Nairobi.
They will tell you, Mpesa, the widely used local payment system, is strictly controlled on how who and when it can be accessed. Collecting payments are limited to them, and they get to decide the rules. Complaints abound of Safaricom’s failure to offer simple APIs for tech developers and small businesses to link Mpesa payment applications to their process. For a company as big as they are, what they provide is low quality compared to industry standards. What is ideally supposed to be a natural process of applying for APIs (typically free and easy to access), is a nightmare at best.
Kariuki Marima, one of Silicon Savannah’s bright minds is frustrated and says Safaricom’s API Integration is a nightmare. Kariuki and other highly experienced developers from Banking and telecommunications admit they have not faced a more painful process than integrating to M-PESA. It is hard to believe a company with $150 million in reserves cannot develop simple, accessible APIs for Kenya’s technopreneurs.
It is no secret Safaricom has had numerous Intellectual Property cases brought against it in courts. Budding internet entrepreneurs have been victims of Safaricom’s devious tactics. Safaricom has been accused of stealing intellectual property ideas from young Kenyan companies, after luring with closed door session pitch.
Steve Ngethe came up with Manyatta rent in 2012. A mobile payment application that allowed landlords and real estate agents to aggregate rental payments. Steve got into talks with Safaricom’s Business Development Department on a potential partnership. Months later, Safaricom launched a rival product dubbed Lipa Kodi that resembled his original idea, Lipa Rent.
Faulu Kenya Microfinance Bank also had qualms with the Safaricom over its product concept, Kopa Chapaa. Faulu claimed they pitched Safaricom on the idea of a mobile money service in 2011 that would let users save, borrow loans and earn interest on their mobile phones. Faulu
“ had proposed to enter into a partnership with Safaricom to deploy a similar product and says it presented a prepared concept paper detailing how the platform was going to operate.” – business daily
Faulu Kenya’s case was heard before the High Court on December 2012. Judge Jonathan Havelock dismissed the application for an injunction by Faulu seeking to temporarily freeze the launch of M Shwari. Today, that product is and belongs to Safaricom and Commercial Bank of Africa.
Another case of Dr Dedan Maina Warui vs. Safaricom Ltd. sought an injunction against Safaricom on allegations of a breach of copyright and intellectual property. Dr Dedan claimed to have pitched Safaricom’s Enterprise Unit on the idea of a medical dispenser in March 2011. Warui had heard of Safaricom’s crooked methods. He smart enough to register his Med Dispenser concept paper with the Kenya Copyright Board as a literary work, no. CR 000712 on March 8, 2011. Safaricom later launched a similar product, Safaricom Healthcare Presence without notifying Warui. He found out through the Daily Nation newspaper and sought redress in court. Again, the High Court dismissed his application. In his ruling. Judge Gikonyo agreed that Warui concept paper was copyrightable.
These are just but a few example. Safaricom’s reputation has been soiled amongst Kenyan entrepreneurs and technologists. It is so bad, and that young companies are hesitant to take up investment rounds from the firm’s $1 million Spark Fund kitty set aside for startups.
Even large Kenyan corporations have locked horns with Safaricom over its monopolistic, anti-competitive, dishonest tactics. Airtel and Equity Bank have had over ten court battles with Safaricom over its anti-competitive behaviour. The status quo is intent on perpetuating the cash cow at whatever cost.
The latest court case in December 2015, was a spat between a payment start up BitPesa and Safaricom. BitPesa Limited and Lipisha Consortium Limited (the petitioners) took Safaricom (the respondent) to court for abruptly shutting down their services.
