Kenya Insights

Category: Investigations

  • Steven Githaiga The TARDA Fraud MD Who Changed His Birth Dates To Serve Longer, Employed Whole Family and Friends In The Parastatal(Part 1 Of 20)

    Steven Githaiga The TARDA Fraud MD Who Changed His Birth Dates To Serve Longer, Employed Whole Family and Friends In The Parastatal(Part 1 Of 20)

    captionToday we open up our first episode of 20 that will go to expose the rot that has been embedded in the Tana & Athi River Development Authority(TARDA). Stephen Githaiga Ruimuku the parastatal’s MD is a tribal bigot and corruption master who has taken up operations of TARDA running it like a family affair.

    First off, his initial and actual name on the ID card number 1901968 is Steven Maina Githaiga date of birth 1953, and he fraudulently changed to Steven Githaiga Ruimuku birth date 1958. By this, he reduced his age by five years as a scheme to allow him to serve more years in the industry.

    The open irregularity was spotted by the Auditor General Ouko in the accounts of financial year 2013/14, and the matter was taken to EACC for investigations but knowing the nature of things in Kenya, the embattled MD compromised the commissioners. Intel reaching Kenya Insights indicates the parastatal is set to receive about Sh.6B for Athi River conservation and upgrade projects, and he’s buying time to tap into this cash. This is the money he’s been using as the bargaining point with the EACC and anyone who dares raise a voice on this matter.

    Agitated staff members have gone as far us writing to the Parliament’s Public Investment Committee in a letter dated 30th March 2016, but nothing fruitful is yet to come out.

    Kenya Insights is, therefore, going to take up the matter for public interest and for integrity in state’s institution to reveal the underdealings and the filthy impunity culture that has allowed Ruimuku to keep on frustrating staff members, using illegitimate documents meaning he’s illegally in the office but nothing happening to him.

    His original passport number is A383456 with his date of birth indicated as 1953 and not A593455 with an illegally altered date of 1958. The anomalies captured by Auditor General report on the financial year 2013/2014 dated 24th April 2015.

    Crucial Questions

    When was the MD born? ID Card No. 19001968 and Passport indicate he is 63 years old. How did the MD acquire Passport No? A593455 and his new ID card to show he is 58 years.

    Is the change of passport and ID card original details, not a criminal act?

    Procurement of various goods and services as captured in 2013/2014 audited report

    Among other irregular procurements and tendering malpractices in 2013/14, the MD’s company BEVAN supplied low-quality sausages and other dairy products to TARDA’s hotel(Masinga Dam Resort). His wife Lucy Wangui Ngahu(recently employed at TARDA) supplied wines and spirits and vegetables at inflated prices to the same hotel. These companies were neither prequalified nor did they go through a tendering process.

    This is clearly an insider trading which is contrary to set public institutions regulations. The original list of prequalified suppliers for the financial year 2014/15 was altered with, and other friendlier companies to the corrupt MD inserted without going through an open and set tendering process.

    The MD illegally took away TARDA’s motor vehicle a Land Rover Discovery Reg. No. KAD 266D without paying for neither tendering for it. He has since sold the car to a third party. How did the MD Steven Ruimuku acquire the car a government’s asset, did he participate in disposal process to gain ownership.

    Nepotism and tribal have been the norm under Ruimuku’s tenure. He has employed everyone in his family to the authority and close friends. He has discriminated against staff members outside his Kikuyu tribe with unwarranted actions including demotion, unnecessary transfers and refusing to promote those recommended by the public service commission. In a nutshell the MD has been running the institution like a private entity where he does things the way he likes telling off any staff who raises a voice upon him that nothing can happen to him since he’s from the president’s tribe and that Jubilee is still in power, and he will do things as he likes.

    In the next episode, we will detail out the levels of tribalism and nepotism that the MD has introduced in TARDA employing his friends and relatives, dismissing and demoting, discriminating those from other tribes. The names and all will be given. The culture of impunity by arrogant and fraudulent leadership in public institutions like this of Ruimuku must be condemned and called out with least kind words.

  • The 30 Police Armoured Vehicles Bought From China That Uhuru Kenyatta Launched Broke Down The First Day

    The 30 Police Armoured Vehicles Bought From China That Uhuru Kenyatta Launched Broke Down The First Day

    Months after they were acquired, there has been not a single mission of successful deployment of the VN-4s to report. Key components, including shock absorbers and air conditioning, don’t work. Kenyan officers have misgivings about them; they do not even know how to operate them properly, let alone maintain them. Almost all have been parked since they were commissioned

    They were supposed to be the machines that made the difference in the war against terror in the Kenyan story; the ones to turn cops into heroes, and the bad guys into, well, not heroes. But the chronicle of the 30 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) purchased by the Kenya government, in a shroud of secrecy, from China is one that speaks of wanton waste and abundant ineptitude.

    At the commissioning of the APCs in February this year, President Uhuru Kenyatta was evidently excited. He extolled the “important milestone” that his administration had attained, in its mission to modernisation the police service. It was, he said, one thing his government had done differently from its predecessors in decades, which would give the cops that much-needed boost in the fight against terrorism, banditry and other forms of crime.

    The cost of the APCs was never publically disclosed – no police or military purchase ever is – but they are believed to cost less than US-manufactured ones, which go for close to $1.2 million (Sh120 million) per unit. Available information indicates that Kenya was the second country to acquire the VN-4 APCs, manufactured by China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) Group.

    The only other country known to have the same hardware is the Venezuelan National Guard, under the repressive regime of President Nicolás Maduro. The vehicle’s armour is welded shut and primarily provides protection from small arms fire and splinters from explosives. According to armyrecognition.com, the VN-4 is fitted with an open-roof, and a small turret mounted at the front top hull, armed with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun. Three smoke grenade dischargers are mounted on each side of the turret. It has a top speed of 115 km/h and efficient range of 700 kilometres.

    The Nairobi Law Monthly’s investigations have returned a damning verdict, which points to a mega scandal within the Presidency, specifically the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government – the same ministry has previously been accused of appropriating billions of shillings in the space of days in inexplicable expenses; the journalist who reported the story was later arrested for ‘questioning’, and was only released after a public outcry

    By the time the APCs landed at the port of Mombasa from China, they had not been tested locally; neither had Kenyan police officers, who were to be the primary users, undergone any form of training on how to use or maintain them.

    Don’t miss out to get your copy of the August release of Nairobi Law Monthly when they hit the streets the first week of August and get the finer details of what would be one of the biggest scandals to ever hit Jubilee government after Eurobond and NYS scandal.

  • #CityHallimpunity: Backdoor Deals Fueling Land Grabbing Within Kidero Government

    #CityHallimpunity: Backdoor Deals Fueling Land Grabbing Within Kidero Government

    Governor Evans Kidero
    Governor Evans Kidero

    In the past four days, Kenya Insights has been on a consistent journey revealing and exposing how a wealthy and powerful cartel has been the frustrating justice system. A public listed land in Eastleigh that was open for PPP by the County Council has been marred with controversies, interminable wrangles that have seen Alfa Traders illegally put up a structure on the claimed land.

    The land that originally belongs to the County Government the legal custodians with the title deed, somehow Alfa Traders claimed ownership is saying they have the lease. Their claim was nullified in 2008 by the then County Council, Director of Legal Affairs N’gethe. Through a gazette notice, the lease was revoked and termed as fake.

    National Lands Commission has also disowned the lease claimed by Alfa Traders on several occasions. But the actions and words of this commission don’t replicate, they’ve gone as far us summoning them through their lawyers Ahmednasir and Abdikadir Advocates to present evidence and convince them to be in the hold of the original lease but have resorted to cats and mouse plays, yet to honour summons.

    Alfa Traders recently applied to the Registrar of titles to be issued with a new title to the said land, claiming they had lost the original title. If true that they owned this can they produce a copy of the same to affirm this?

    While the court of appeal ruled for the PPP process be refreshed and officials and City Hall collaborated with the Alfa Traders to be awarded the tender. How did the planning department approve the building plans for Alfa Traders with a lease that is in question? Can the County Government produce the title they used to adopt the construction plans for the Alfa Traders? Is this the same lease that was revoked by the previous county council that they used to approve? If the title doesn’t exist as NLC records indicate so, did County Government adopt a building plan without a valid title deed, this is the misuse of office and should be punishable by law.

    Still staying at City Hall, Minister of Lands, Christopher Khaemba has been issuing contradictory statements exposing incompetence or the fraud conspiracy within the premise. He wrote to NLC in a letter dated 23rd June 2016 to authenticate the lease to Alfa Traders, the same lease that had been revoked by the previous City Council in a gazette notice 11952 on 19th Dec 2008. The same City Council had written in a letter that seemingly wasn’t served and only meant for hoodwinking to Alfa Traders to stop construction of the mall.

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    The unending yet ineffective and not followed up to letters goes to reveal the ugly face of impunity. The county council, NLC both who’ve issued notices to the Alfa Traders to stop construction, cannot that they’re unaware that the construction that is going on in the full glare of the public is happening without their notice.

    All orders from City Hall have been disregarded, they issue directives from the office and never follow up to ensure they’re effected this simply put a hoodwink and PR measures to keep others busy while construction on a public land goes on.

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    Is the County Government under a leadership of Governor Kidero trying to tell Nairobians that they’re powerless and not the authority and that Alfa Traders and the land grabbing cartel are stronger than him? Buying time, issuing toilet paper notices and doing zero follow-ups on their words goes deep to show the culture of impunity and tolerance to the cartel. This notion can only be wiped out if the Government is seen to be genuinely working and not just talking.

  • Behind The Rampant School Fires: The Education Sector Cartels That Matiangi Has Rattled

    Behind The Rampant School Fires: The Education Sector Cartels That Matiangi Has Rattled

    Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i.
    Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.

    The latest update on the seemingly never-ending school fires comes from the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The agency has advised the Ministry Of Education to call immediately for the indefinite closure of schools with Intel indicating that more fires are set up in the coming days. An average of 5 schools are burned daily with over 300 schools already razed down.

    Education CS Matiangi has insisted that the exam leakage cartel is behind the fires- a sentiment that the association of the secondary level heads has dismissed. From Kenya Insights investigations, the cartel that is crippling the education sector is larger than it seems and dates ages back. The cartels are so powerful that they’ll do anything and everything to protect their empire. They’re ghosts that can’t be seen just heard.

    Exams Leakage

    This is perhaps the most lucrative business ever and an opening for quick cash. The syndicate is estimated to net about Sh.400M each year. It has its head at Mtihani house where KNEC officials privy to the exams coordinate the flow of exam leakage. Security officers and teachers make the trickle down membership.

    The cost of buying exams is passed down to parents through non-existent projects in the fee structure; this, according to Kenya Insights investigations, is a key explanation behind those exorbitant and exaggerated school fees in secondary schools.

    There’s also the fee cartel in which head teachers and education ministry officials conspire to introduce illusionary projects in the fee structure. The loot is then shared as parents bare the bulk of the burden.
    Procurement

    Suppliers

    This is also another lucrative field where education officials, publishers, suppliers of textbooks and teachers conspire to inflate prices of the books. It’s estimated to be raking an annual amount of up to Sh.200M. This extends to infrastructure projects where contractors conspire with head teachers and regional ministry officials

    Matinagi stringent rules have sent shivers down many people’s spines and those who transacted dirty deals would take advantage of the fires to burn down evidence and doctoring records with auditing called upon statitistics. The extortion racket in the education sector is under threat and won’t go down quickly.

    Matiangi got into the ministry with full knowledge of the cartel, their strengths and vowed to fight them with the aim of cleaning the education sector but they’ve fought back hard. The fight wasn’t going to be easy, dismantling a cartel needs a major strategy, and Matiangi is yet to hack it. A suggestion of convention bringing together all education stakeholders has been raised.

  • #ArrestLandGrabbers: A Call Into Actions For Authorities To Clamp Down On Nairobi And Eastleigh Land Grabbers

    #ArrestLandGrabbers: A Call Into Actions For Authorities To Clamp Down On Nairobi And Eastleigh Land Grabbers

    CID Director, Ndegwa Muhoro
    CID Director, Ndegwa Muhoro

    In the past days, Kenya Insights has laid a campaign dedicated to exposing the land-grabbing syndicate made up of dishonest businesspeople collaborating with corrupt City Hall officials and Judiciary in derailing justice over a piece of land in Eastleigh.

    The Nairobi County Council owns the land in question listed as a public utility but has been overtaken by private developers. Through PPP, County Government had in plan to lease the land to investors for 45 years during which a mall and office spaces would be created, and the council collect rent after 20 years of the lease.

    A clash occurred when the two companies shortlisted for the PP namely Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall ended up in a spring of court battles. The tendering board of the then City Council unanimously awarded Golden Lime International Ltd the contract to put up a structure on the land.

    The decision was met with opposition and the losing Blue Sea Shopping Mall through their other company Alfa Traders moved to court to challenge the decision. In a nutshell, the case has been in and out of the courts since 2008 to date. Court of Appeal ruled that both the opposing party retract and the entire PPP process be re-initiated by the Nairobi County Government.

    Miraculously, or rather a Kenyan way, Blue Sea Shopping Mall started construction despite courts ruling otherwise in what seems like a high placed blessing from the City Hall, the custodians of the said land.

    National Lands Commission has revoked their construction’s licence ordered for the constructions be stopped, but all these have been disregarded, and the development continues heedless with high degree impunity.

    The Office of Ombudsman took up the case but have sat on the report for so long. The office has since written to the writer of this story that the report would be out and put in the public coming week.

    The bulk of suffering has been on the traders who’ve been caught up in the middle of the fighting investors and the loose justice system. They now have to look for other spaces to go about their business.

    In our previous piece, we unmasked the land grabbers. Farah Barrow and Ali Sheikh Muhamad the listed and proxy Directors of Alfa Traders and Blue Sea Shopping Mall, which is technically one thing. The ghost and real owner of these companies behind series of land grabbings are one Sheikh Khalifa. Besides Eastleigh Land, there’s Eastleigh Primary School, which they also grabbed.

    Sheikh Khalifa, the billionaire and financier of Alfa Traders, is also the owner of Diamond Park Estate another piece of land grabbed from the ministry of agriculture and was previously marked for demolition but thanks to high places protection it was stopped by a call from the president himself following senator Sonko’s intervention. The matter of the land is still in the courts.

    Grabbing of land listed for public consumption or any other land is a criminal act which should be punished by the courts of law. The matter of Eastleigh land has been in CID’s radar for the longest time, and the issue was taken to them for follow up, and they’ve been doing investigations or so they say. With facts out there, why would the law be soft towards such criminals in suits?

    Land grabbing has been ongoing, and the mighty continue to have their way since they can buy themselves out. Law shouldn’t be too harsh on a chicken thief and be massaging to a large scale land grabber, both are criminals and should face the wrath of the law. A message need to be sent to the Eastleigh land grabbers and alike parties elsewhere, the police and relevant authorities need to spring into action and save the poor public from the deadly jaws of the monied and hungry land grabbers going after the few left public lands.

    Kenya Insights is calling out for all Kenyans of Goodwill to use #ArrestLandGrabbers as the conversation guide in naming shaming and asking authorities to act and throw these criminals behind bars. Impunity is what cripples the nation more. CID Director, Ndegwa Muhoro should take up the matter with speed and hand files for prosecution should the named be liable to questioning. Crime is a crime despite magnitude and no one should exclused from facing justice.

  • Secret Meeting Reveals The Sh400M Racket Behind Nationwide School Fires

    Secret Meeting Reveals The Sh400M Racket Behind Nationwide School Fires

    Education CS Fred Matiang'i
    Education CS Fred Matiang’i

    For the past weeks schools have been going up in flames with over 10,000 students sent home scored charged in courts for arson including teachers. Some students have been heavily punished, about 15 students who recently set ablazeLangata dormitories have been sent to Kamiti maximum prison where hardcore criminals are detained perhaps a move to send a severe warning to the rest.

    As the cases of school fires continue to thrive one critical issue that has taken centre stage is as to who and what elements could be behind the fires. Several theories have been forthcoming including politics.

    Initially, the fires started in Kisii the home ground of education CS Fredrick Matiang’i, and it was theorised that jealous local leaders wanted him out of the seat, and the fires would be used as a sign of discomfort and rebellion to his leadership in the education helm.

    Another angle that was introduced came from KNUT officials that the strict and dictatorial policies that the CS introduced including overhauling the schools calendar and activities were to blame. KNUT Sec Gen Sossion is on record saying the students were unhappy and showed rejection to the stiff policies. KNUT has threatened to cease duty should the ministry go ahead with charging teachers for arson.

    Talking of terrible policies, the CS has issued a warning that any school that burns it’s head teacher would automatically be demoted. This is a misinformed and exposing innocent teachers to victimisation. It doesn’t automatically mean the headteachers are part of the syndicate of anything an enemy would take advantage to sponsor a fire in individual school to have the headteacher demoted. That thought needs revision.

    Ministry of education officials bundled themselves in a hotel in Naivasha on Monday for a secret crisis meeting with agenda of finding out the factors behind the fires. According to a mole speaking to Kenya Insights, the findings of the ministry’s investigations points fingers at the exams leaking cartel. The cartel is accurate on KCSE, which is just months away from starting.

    The syndicate that includes KNEC officials, security officers, middlemen and teachers is said to be raking cool Sh400M annually on leaking the exams a menace that has dealt credibility blow to the exams council The KNEC’s New chairman and immediate former UoN VC Prof Magoha has promised to make this year’s exams leak proof and the cartel is scared to death with the reality of losing out on this year’s loot.

    While theories continue to emerge more schools continue to go up in flames, an amicable solution should be up to salvage the education sector which is on fire.

  • #UnmaskingLandGrabbers: Revealing The Private Developers, Cartels Behind Serial Eastleigh and Nairobi Land Grabbing

    #UnmaskingLandGrabbers: Revealing The Private Developers, Cartels Behind Serial Eastleigh and Nairobi Land Grabbing

    Farah Mohamed Barrow one of the Alfa Traders and Blue Sea Mall Proxy Directors.
    Farah Mohamed Barrow one of the Alfa Traders and Blue Sea Mall Proxy Directors.

    In our continuous series of a powerful land-grabbing cartel that has seen a land set aside for public utility taken over by private developers and construction of a Sh.400M going up in Eastleigh. The dubious deal has since seen hawkers who previously occupied the land suffer most impact having been thrown out.

    The piece of land has been under tussles in the last ten years. The disputes in the epidemic land date back in 2008 when then City Council of Nairobi advertised for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the redevelopment of Eastleigh Market through a lease. The city council would provide the land, and then a private entity would construct a mall, shops, offices and apartments.

    The model developed by the County government would see the winning company leased the land for 45 years and give twenty offices to the Council. After an austere vetting process, only two companies, Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall, made it to the final bidding phase. Only one was awarded the contract after a unanimous decision by the County Council’s body, Golden Lime International Limited won.

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    Alfa Traders joined in the tussles as an interested party. Interestingly, they claimed to be the owners of the same piece of land then one wonders why Alfa would take part in the PPP if the land were theirs in the first place.

    Alfa Traders and Blue Sea Shopping Mall are the same entities with same owners. Kenya Insights can reveal the directors of the two companies are Farah Mohamed Barrow and Ali Sheikh Mohamud.

    Sheikh Khalifa, the ghost director and a billionaire, is the ultimate financier and owner of Alfa Traders, and he opts to take a laid back position in all these dealings. Khalifa uses Farah Mohamed Barrow and Ali Sheikh Mohamud as his trusted proxies, and they’re the one’s who appears as owners in nearly all his properties.

    Sheikh Khalifa owns endless huge buildings across the city including  Diamond Park Estate along Likoni Road. Sources indicate that he co-owns the estate with his long term business partner and Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero. Interestingly, the state in 2014 had marked the land where the estate stands for demolition. The land was grabbed from the Ministry of Agriculture. According to the Ndung’u report, all the allocation of the 210 acre is illegal and should be reverted to the Government. It should be remembered this is the same piece of land that Senator Mike Sonko had put President Uhuru on loudspeaker before the press when demolishions were set. He came to the rescue of the grabbers. The case is still ongoing in the courts.

    Sheikh Khalifa, owns Diamond Wholesalers, the biggest Mumias Sugar distributor in the country a business he’s been in for the longest time through Kidero’s reign to date. His empire extends to Creative Consolidated; Khalifa owns this company that was awarded the multi-billion garbage collection contract by the Nairobi County Government.

    Abbas, who’s son to Khalifa and a wheeler-dealer within City Hall corridors, runs his father’s garbage collection company. You will not miss Abbas’ at George Wainaina, Kidero’s Chief of Staff office where they knit several deals, you can bet nature of most of the deals, dirty.

    Farah Barrow, Sheikh Khalif’s right hands man is the public face of Alfa Traders and will be seen everywhere though sources privy tell Kenya Insights he relies on handouts from his boss and isn’t as wealthy. Farah is accused of having grabbed piece of land from Eastleigh Primary School amongst other parcels that we will continue to expose here.

    When Blue Sea Shopping Mall lost the PPP deal to Golden Lime International Limited, they appealed the decision citing irregularities. Tactically, Alfa Traders tried to register a different company with nearly similar names, Golden line International Limited but the registrar of businesses caught them in the act and denied them certification.

    The lease that Alfa Traders held over the same piece of land had been denounced by County Government’s Legal office as null also National Land Commission has nullified the lease. It puzzles how despite all these discrepancies, and Court of Appeal was ruling for PPP overhaul, Blue Sea Shopping Mall which is represented by Ahmednasir Abdikadir & Co. Advocates have disregarded directives ordering otherwise to continue with the mall’s construction. More puzzling is how a public listed piece of land miraculously became a private entity.

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  • How Two Dubious Businessmen Conspired With Kidero’s Government To Grab Public Land In Eastleigh, Multimillion Heist

    How Two Dubious Businessmen Conspired With Kidero’s Government To Grab Public Land In Eastleigh, Multimillion Heist

    Nairobi County Government once again finds itself in the middle of a circus following an unending tussle over a two-acre piece of land at the heart of Nairobi’s busy Eastleigh estate. Two companies, Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall are fighting over a contentious award of a multi-million shilling contract by the Nairobi County Government.

    The troubles in the contagious land date back in 2008 when then City Council of Nairobi advertised for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the redevelopment of Eastleigh Market through a lease. The city council would provide the land, and then a private entity would construct a mall, shops, offices and apartments.

    The model developed by the County government would see the winning company leased the land for 45 years and give twenty offices to the Council. After an austere vetting process, only two companies, Golden Lime International Limited and Blue Sea Shopping Mall, made it to the final bidding phase. Only one was awarded the contract.

    Mary Ng’ethe, the then Director of Legal Affairs at the City Council of Nairobi, confirmed in an official letter that that Golden Lime International Limited won the tender and was awarded the contract. They were to put up the Sh.400M mall up, and construction was scheduled to kick off in the next two months.

    However, this wasn’t going to be the case as disgruntled parties moved to court to challenge the County Government’s decision awarding Golden Lime International Ltd. the contract. The losing party, Blue Sea Shopping Mall, through its directors Farah Mohamed Barrow and Ali Sheikh Mohamud went to court to challenge the award. Their core complaint was that Gold Lime was unfairly awarded the contract through the PPP and that the land on which the mall was to be built had already been leased out to another company, Alfa Traders, by the City Council.

    High Court nullified their complaint, and they went to Court of Appeal on the same. It’s, however, laughable that Blue Sea whose directors are also listed as owners of Alfa Traders(who claim to be the owners of the land with a controversial title deed to support the allegation) participated in the contract allocation process. Naturally, if Farah and Company were truly the legitimate owners of the piece of land as they claim through Alfa Traders, they wouldn’t have to undergo the allocation process but would instead go ahead with construction. After all, they owned the land and so they claim. By participating in the process, they were incriminating themselves and the fraudulent title deed.

    According to Official documents from the registrar’s office that are also in custody of Kenya Insights, show that Farah Mohamed Barrow is also a director at Alfa Traders. A well-calculated coincidence. This came at a time when the County Council was aware and had alerted the Lands Registrar over the existence of a fake lease of the public listed land in Eastleigh by the Alpha Traders.

    The cancellation of the false lease was officially revoked On December 19, 2008, by the Lands Office via Gazette Notice Number 11951. Annulment of the lease is also noted on the council’s mother title deed, which it has had since 1969.

    Months later in a sharp turn Alfa Traders A year after the revocation of the fake lease award of the contract and after the repeal through Ahmednasir Abdikadir & Co. Advocates wrote to the county council alleging to have been awarded the contract. The letter read “Our client informs us that it was granted a private-public partnership with the city council of Nairobi on the reconstruction of the Eastleigh Market…some individuals after realising that our client was about to be awarded the contract and in furtherance of a criminal act, fraudulently registered a company with a similar name as that of our customers… we advise you to hold any dealing you may have with these individuals.”

    Ironically, it was Alfa Traders who tactically and unsuccessfully tried to shortchange Golden Lime International Limited by registering a similar name bearing company called Goldenlime International Limited. Registrar of companies unearthed the desperate conspiracy and dismissed the plot. County Council maintained Golden Lime International Ltd rightfully won the contract, and the pseudo company was rejected. Again it turned out Farah Barrow was listed as one of the managers in the Pseudo Company, Goldlime International Ltd.

    In an affidavit to the Lands Department where she stamped the contested land as a public utility, Mary Ng’ethe, the then Director of Legal Affairs in County Government noted, “not surprisingly, and through deceit, Farah Mohamed Barrow once again appears as a director of a dubious company that claimed to have been the successful bidder for the public-private partnership aforesaid,”

    With the entrance of new County Government now known as Nairobi County Government, a break from the traditional setting, Ahmednasir Abdikadir & Co Advocates the company representing Farah and company wrote to Governor Evans Kidero’s office on February 3, 2014, regarding the same matter and that’s when things took a sharp turn.

    The Nairobi County Government legal secretary, Karisa Iha, wrote back to the lawyers saying the subject matter of the land, mentioning Ali Sheikh Mohammed and Farah Mohamed, had been placed in his hands to reply.

    The County Government insisted that the Gazette cancellation of the lease to Alfa Traders and the court order preventing anyone from acting on the land either through the PPP or private ownership was still in force.

    However, Karisa’s insertion brought a total overhaul to everything: “Records held by the county and the latest search confirms that your clients are the registered and rateable owners of the above property.” He reminded them that the case they had filed in 2008 against the City Council and other parties over the land was still pending and that the orders not to touch the land were still in force. “The county has no objection to your clients taking vacant possession of the premises subject to them discharging the court orders,” Karisa said.

    Surprisingly, On March 20, 2014, the County Government of Nairobi under Kidero’s leadership, approved Alfa Traders’ building plans. The letter was signed by the Director of City Planning. On learning about the rusty deal that had been made and Alfa Traders’ construction plans were approved by the County’s Government, Golden Lime International Limited, through their lawyers, Gitau Gikonyo & Company Advocates, moved to court and wrote to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to challenge the approval of the building plans, claiming the approved building plans were illegally and fraudulently submitted.

    In yet another sharp turn, In June of 2014, the county government cancelled the approvals it had granted Alfa Traders for the building of the mall. February 14, 2016, another enforcement letter from the County’s Government Planning Director Directed Alfa Traders to cease construction but this hasn’t been honoured. Despite the court orders and directives from the authorities, construction of Blue Seal Shopping Mall is still ongoing in what is a clear manifest of impunity and a telling sign that powerful forces are cushioning the rogue contractors.

    The biggest casualties of the dubious deal that has seen Alfa Traders developing a mall despite the immense abnormalities are the hawkers and traders of Eastleigh who has since been forced to vacate and look for spaces elsewhere as construction the contested land continues. The Ombudsman Office and National Land Commission have since taken up the cases.

    The slow pace of action within these institutions have however raised suspicions, and Ombudsman Office has been investigating the story since January this year with no report forthcoming. A possible explanation could be they’ve not conducted any investigations, or they did and were compromised and sat on the report. Kidero himself is on record publicly saying the land is a public utility, County Government in official letters have revoked the Building plan and allocation to Blue Sea. All vital documents are accessible to the public, what’s taking Ombudsman Office months to wrap up their investigations if any?

    In numerous letters seen by Kenya Insights, NLC has tirelessly written to Alfa Traders and served notice to cease and vacate the premises listed as a public utility. NLC is also giving insulated warnings and doesn’t seem to be genuinely concerned about securing the land.

    Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who has been on the forefront in various land grabbing in the County has maintained a resounding and suspicious silence on the Eastleigh land grabbing. Perhaps he’s compromised by the dubious wealthy contractors or he’s plain unconcerned about the traders being victimised or whatsoever his reasons. Kenya Insights has learnt that the traders union has reached out to the senator for intervention including numerous visits to his office, but he has given them a dead ear.

    The question in many people’s minds is how and why the land that was previously and genuinely listed as a public utility was privatised with the entrance of Kidero Government and how Alfa Traders got hold of a title deed to a public listed land. Kenya Insights is learning that they no longer have their claimed title deed and have applied to NLC to be given a new one. An apparent backdoor and uncouth means to get a new title deed on a land that they don’t legally own.






  • Beastiality: Grown People Paying Huge To Watch Teenagers Having Sex With Animals in Mombasa

    Beastiality: Grown People Paying Huge To Watch Teenagers Having Sex With Animals in Mombasa

    STRESSED-woman

    The Coastal city of Mombasa remains one of the most preferred vacation destinations in Kenya. Dozens of activities taking place keep it one of the most engaged towns. Prostitution is one of those typical activities that can’t be overlooked in the region.

    It goes without mentioning that the city is filled with people with different morals, and perverted minds thrive pretty much as well. Talking of perversion, there’s a soring trend of high appetite on the bestial material. According to word on the streets, teenagers aged between 8-17 are forced into having sex with animals on tape.

    The bizarre act is recorded, and shockingly, the consumers are grown men and women who pay hugely as the subscription to watch the minors engage in the unnatural act.

    The bestiality syndicate is extensive and thriving, and the teenagers are paid as little as Sh.200 to participate in sexual intimacy with animals in most cases dogs are their preferred choice. The young girls and boys are intoxicated with drugs before being put into action with the animals to satisfy the twisted fantasies of the perverted consumers.

    As Kenya Insights found out, there are specific secret member clubs where these materials are distributed, and the perverts focalize to watch the young girls and boys engage in the act. Secret Whatsapp groups also do exist where the materials are distributed.

    Mtwapa better known as Kenya’s Las Vegas is the headquarter of these evil actions and where the acts are committed. Poverty and illiteracy are large to blame for this. The teenagers are paid peanuts and intoxicated before subjection to the eccentric acts. This is not the first instance, and bestiality is a disturbing and yet a growing trend, a few years back a group of college girls and their contact were caught in the act filming themselves having sex with dogs and arrested over the outrageous act.

    Perverts are paying big money to satisfy their fantasies while at the same time destroying the future and health of the young persons who’re blindly lured into the damaging business.

  • Kenya’s Peculiarity: Koffi Olomide Deported, Ruto’s Pilot Is Back In The Air #WhatAboutWenjie

    Kenya’s Peculiarity: Koffi Olomide Deported, Ruto’s Pilot Is Back In The Air #WhatAboutWenjie

    DP Ruto's Pilot, Mr Alistair Patrick Llewelyn assaulting a policewoman
    DP Ruto’s Pilot, Mr Alistair Patrick Llewelyn assaulting a policewoman

    For a better part of Friday, the internet went berserk following the surfacing of a coral video showing Congolese Lingala star Koffi Olumide reigning on one of his female dancers with kicks. The assaulting video grasped the internet, elicited anger with users unanimously calling for his arrest and immediate deportation.

    The pressure was coming from all corners that the police has no option but to jump in. Koffi was arrested outside Citizen TV’S studios where he had attended an interview show. Later detained at JKIA police station where he spent the night. Olomide has since been deported from the country with double tragedy of permanent visa ban.

    Kenyans have a peculiar habit of forgetting things as soon as they relegate from the trends. The impunity forces are aware and take advantage of the this. Earlier this year, DP Ruto’s Pilot, Mr Alistair Patrick Llewelyn was caught on tape assaulting a policewoman.

    Expectedly, the video drew hostile reaction accompanied with #DeportRutoPilot, and he was taken to courts, and before we knew it, the chap was back in the skies with the same chopper under the same company.

    DP Ruto's Pilot, Mr Alistair Patrick Llewelyn(Middle) as seen back in action with him his client Lawyer Donal Kipkorir. Notice the registration of the chopper remains the same. (Pic Courtesy)
    DP Ruto’s Pilot, Mr Alistair Patrick Llewelyn(Middle) as seen back in action with him his client Lawyer Donal Kipkorir. Notice the registration of the chopper remains the same. (Pic Courtesy)

    Kwale Island Development Limited, who run the helicopter 5Y-DSN, said they had terminated the services of Mr Llewelyn whom they had contracted, but they lied. Knowing nature of Kenyans, they duped us with PR statement that he was fired, bought time and sneaked him right back.

    Olomide, as some have argued, didn’t survive not because Kenya has strict moral policies but because he didn’t have powerful connections in the government to cushion him. Wenjie Li a Chinese millionaire doing business in Kenya also a declared illegal immigrant by an office of the president is a good example. According to an expose done by Nyakundi, the illegal immigrant is receiving protection from aides to Interior CD Joseph Nkaiseery. The expose would later see the blogger getting police summon and arrest.

    What’s so exceptional about Wenjie Li that he can’t be deported with the glaring facts that he’s in the country illegally. The culture of impunity is deeply rooted in the system, and you can nearly get away with anything as long as you have money and know people who know people. If we’re sincere in securing our borders and abiding by the law, then Wenjie Li and any other illegal immigrant should be bundled out of the country.

  • NGOs Coordination CEO Fazul Mahamed Summoned By CID, Threatened Life Of Staff Who Questioned His Fake Degree

    NGOs Coordination CEO Fazul Mahamed Summoned By CID, Threatened Life Of Staff Who Questioned His Fake Degree

    The NGO Coordination Board chairman Fazul Mahamed
    The NGO Coordination Board chairman Fazul Mahamed

    The ghost of forgery continues to haunt NGOs’ Coordination Board chairman Fazul Mahamed. Earlier in the year, Fazul was grilled by EACC about the authenticity of the degree he used to gain employment, following complaints from the board.

    According to information reaching Kenya Insights, a senior staff member sitting in the NGO’s board has been threatened with harmful consequences from the CEO, Fazul. The staff member according to a source speaking to us had questioned the credentials of the CEO. This isn’t new as it is in the public domain that he forged his academic papers. Fazul, who according to several reports has been defensive and easily pissed off at anyone who dare, question his papers.

    Fazul served in NACADA, has been accused, and detectives followed trails of his questionable education trail. With the accusations, the CEO has been fraudulently earning the salary with forged documents.

    According to files he presented to the boards during NACADA and NGO’s Coordination interviews; Fazul stated he was a Biochemistry graduate from Egerton University in 2009. Contrarily, in 2015, Egerton University Registrar of academic affairs, Prof SFO Owido said Mahamed Yusuf, as Fazul was known in college, was discontinued on academic grounds in his third year of study by the Senate on August 26, 2010.

    In a letter to the National Council of NGOs dated September 10, 2015, Owido said Mahamed was admitted as a regular student in 2007 to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. He changed the course through an inter-faculty transfer on September 27, 2007, Owido said. He said Mahamed was discontinued for failing 50 percent or more of all the credit factors taken in the regular exams of one academic year.

    fake2
    Letter from Egerton University denouncing Fazul’s supposed certificate

    Police detectives who were trailing his roots at one point interrogated his father in Naivasha, where he admitted his son had dropped out of Egerton University and the next thing he knew, Fazul was working in the government. Some sources also say he transferred to UoN, but there’s no evidence to ascertain this claim neither himself. He doesn’t point that out in his CV.

    So where did Fazul get his papers when the university he claims to have graduated from disowned him. Why should taxpayers continue paying someone who’s legitimately not qualified to occupy the position
    Critics have reiterated that the due process wasn’t adhered to during the CEO’s recruiting and flawed vetting process.

    Apparently, there’s no evidence that he underwent vetting in the first place. One such fundamental requirement that Fazul didn’t meet calls for The board’s executive director to have served for ten years in public service and held a master’s degree which he clearly doesn’t measure up to.

    Fazul is not new to controversy, in 2014 when the country was faced with severe terrorist attacks, by then an NACADA official, he blamed the opposition for working with Al-Shabaab to destabilise the Jubilee government a floppy blame that has been doing rounds amongst government’s proponents whenever Kenya is hit.

    In his reign in the NGOs’ board, Fazul shocked many when he deregistered nearly 6000 NGOs he primarily accused of funding terror activities.

    MUHURI, HAKI Africa were just but some of the many organisations that were suspended and accounts frozen. Fazul accused them of working with terror elements and funding their activities. After investigations, the groups were found stain free and resumed activities of fighting for human rights.

    Fazul has insisted questions on his academic credentials rose as a result of what he calls transformative actions in the sector by banning some organisations. To date, Fazul is yet to convince anyone entirely how he acquired his certificates. The threats case is being handled by detectives based in Nairobi’s central police, and the temperate CEO would face charges in court.

  • Cornered: Julie Gichuru’s Father-In-Law Planning to Flee Kenya

    Cornered: Julie Gichuru’s Father-In-Law Planning to Flee Kenya

    Samuel Gichuru Former KPLC Boss
    Samuel Gichuru Former KPLC Boss

    Things are going haywire for Samuel Gichuru, according to sleuths in contact with Kenya Insights, Gichuru is secretly planning to flee Kenya to avoid extradition to Jersey Island where he is supposed to Face money laundering charges. Samuel Gichuru Robbed Kenya Power and Lighting Company when he was the Managing Director. The crook stashed Billions in the island.For those not in the know, Samuel Gichuru is the father to Former Media Icon Julie Gichuru’s husband Tonny ” Flash ” Gichuru.

    It is alleged that part of the money Samuel Gichuru Looted from Kenya power was used to launch the Mcheza failed experiment that the likes of Carol Radul were publicising. Together with Julie Gichuru and some corporate women, Carol Radul have made the huge percentage of deluded youth believe that betting is an economic activity.

    Julie Gichuru has been in the recent past, opened as a compromised Journalist hence dealing a considerable blow to her credibility. After doing a scripted interview that aimed at doing PR for Nairobi governor Evans Kidero, Julie was fired from Citizen TV.

    Journalist Julie Gichuru and her husband Anthony Gichuru, son to the embattled Samuel Gichuru
    Journalist Julie Gichuru and her husband Anthony Gichuru, son to the embattled Samuel Gichuru

    That is why we request Kenyans to expose these Nairobi Cartels that are choking our system before the situation gets out of hand. Back to what brought you here.

    Samuel Gichuru together with his partner in crime Chris Okemo is to be extradited after a ruling by two high court judges that dismissed their application that was challenging the extradition orders.

    The question that many Kenyans are asking is – Why is Samuel Gichuru and his partner crime Chris Okemo still free men? Why is the order demanding that they are to extradited not being affected? Who has been bribed by their dirty money to protect them? Indeed, Kenya is a bandit economy.

    We now request the security officials to be extra careful as looters plot to flee the country and leave the country in debts the latest being Former National Bank of Kenya CEO Munir Hassan, who attempted to escape to Dubai but was nailed by Anti-Banking Fraud Unit officers.

  • Secret Deals: How Ruto Came To The Rescue Of Taj Mall Owner And Stopped Its Demolition

    Secret Deals: How Ruto Came To The Rescue Of Taj Mall Owner And Stopped Its Demolition

    taj
    Taj Mall

    In 2008, Nakumatt Chain Stores woke up to a rude shock when their Thika Road unit was brought down with all their goods inside. They lost billions in the demolition exercise. The store stood on the road reserve, and constructors were making way for the Thika Superhighway construction.

    In 2013, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) wrote to the National Lands Commission(NLC) to investigate the legality of the section of land where Taj Mall sits. September 2015, NLC in a letter to Ramesh Gorasia, the Taj Mall owner, revoked the title of part of the land on which the mall sits. It had been earmarked for demolition to pave the way for Outering Road expansion.

    In an unusual move, Lands ministry quickly revoked the NLC’s directive on the mall’s title deed stating that it can only be revoked by court’s order. This gave Ramesh a reprieve. Taj Mall sits at the roundabout of Outer Ring Road, North Airport Road and Airport South Rd.

    With a street value of $5M or Sh.5B, the mall’s owner Gorasia couldn’t stomach the thought of losing this valuable property and threatened to sue the government for compensation were they to effect the demolition order.

    Taj Mall owner Ramesh Gorasia speaking to the media
    Taj Mall owner Ramesh Gorasia speaking to the media

    The history of the 3.7acres piece of land where the mall sits goes back to 1991 when Gorasia bought the first phase 1.75 acres and another two acres in 1995, both from Abuja Ltd before joining the two parcels. He bought this land when Former President Moi was still in power and irregularities in lands acquisitions were at an all time high.

    From what Kenya Insights gathers, Moi personally facilitated the sale of the property to Gorasia whom you can bet exchanged unknown amounts in return for the favours. The then Lands Commissioner Wilson Gachanja on instructions from Moi issued him with the title deed. The issuance was done in the presence of then deputy principal registrar of titles J M Okungu.

    Faced with the horrible possibility that his Sh.5B mall would be brought down, Gorasia went on tears mode lamenting he was having problems even repaying the Pan African mortgage. He claimed Shelter Afrique loan was still withstanding. He also disclosed that he had other loans at Fidelity and Standard Chartered banks and an overdraft facility at Diamond Trust Bank.

    However, her sympathy seeking please seemed to have fallen on dead ears, and KURA maintained the order and mall remained marked for demolition. Miraculously, in January earlier this year when the demolition was only weeks to be brought down, a change of tone signalled from the National Lands Commission. NLC Chairman Dr Mohammed Swazuri retracted earlier stand saying the Taj Mall property would remain unscathed.

    Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) overhauled everything, the road structure and map was redesigned. In this new fishy development, Taj Mall was left out of the Outering Road expansion plan. Unluckily, bordering Oil Libya in Embakasi, Safeway Supermarket, Jogoo Petrol Station in Outering and Gulf Energy among others, were gazetted for demolition.

    Deputy President William Ruto
    Deputy President William Ruto

    The question in many people’s minds is how this could have possibly happened given the known pattern of the apparent demolition of earmarked structures on road reserves. Any sharp eye would see or even sense something unusual was cooking beneath the scenes.

    Now Kenya Insights can authoritatively reveal that Deputy President William Ruto had a secret hand in saving the Sh.5B structure from being brought down. A highly rated lawyer privy to the details of the deal confided to us that Ruto got into a blurry detailed deal with the Taj Mall proprietor Gorasia.

    Even though our source speaking on strict anonymity conditions tactically withheld finer details into the nature of the agreement between the two, he affirms, “they entered into a contract, and you can leave it at that, it was. As a result, KURA was forced to redesign the road. This alone tells you executive influence had to come in. It’s not on a typical day that a road plan is changed for a small building.”

    Like most of such alike deals, it is nearly impossible to link him directly as an art of proxy reigns. The DP is not a surprise guest in property and lands turmoils. His Weston Hotel along Langata Road sits on a contested land piece said to be a property of Kenya Airports Authority and was accused of being the unseen face behind the private developers who had plotted to grab a piece of Langata Primary School playing ground to create a parking lot for the suffocated Weston Hotel.

  • The Wolves Of Umoja: How West African Sex Pests Are Abusing Nairobi Women

    The Wolves Of Umoja: How West African Sex Pests Are Abusing Nairobi Women

     

    The obsession of Nairobi women to the Naija Men is only comparable to uncontrollable love for Ingokho amongst our Luhya brothers. The notion that the fellas from West are monied and romantic is just but that, a notion. Most of the times, it’s a fallacy, a wet dream

    A distressed fan contacted Kenya Insights, a week ago to highlight her monstrosity ordeal she went through the hands of the Naija brodas. These ladies blinded with the fancy lifestyle and hunting instincts for money will go to towering heights just to win the fake it till you make it fellas.

    There are Instagram-filtered pictures and then the Oga brodas, and it’s never what it seems like when the reality smacks you in the face. For confidentiality purposes, we shall call her Miss X, she frequents Hornbill, the famous club in Umoja estate, Eastlands part of Nairobi where skimpily dressed ladies flock with the hope of luring a ‘rich’ brother into their honey jar.

    Wolves or Mafisi as it’s the referral in the streets, too put up their best acts, dressing, cologne, buying most expensive drinks and what have you. It’s a hunting ground for both species.

    On this particular Friday night, Miss X had her lucky day or she thought so and thought to herself ‘I just hit a lotto’ or maybe Pambazuka jackpot, what’s with all these betting companies everywhere like mitumba? Back to the point.

    Miss X was treated to the drinks of her choice, expected of ladies who drink Kibao with their friends behind scenes, eat githeri sukuma wiki at home but will swear they only eat pizza, chinekee! So Miss X doesn’t go for the obvious knickers dropper, Guarana, instead, single malt whisky. ‘No problem baby, you can order everything, in fact, you can even take di whole bar and drink it,moni isn’t di problem Nah ” I swear I could hear him say that miles away.

    People who were strangers minutes ago were now turned decades lovers, getting high and high, they danced and ground each other as tight as the brake pads in a steeply ground. After the drinks, it’s home, fellas you know the drill right? So the newly met lovers leave the club and yes they’re not catching a cab but hiking on their ride.

    Like a cow taken to the butchery, Miss X showered with honey manenoz slides herself into the car with his ‘investment’ going home to seal their contract. Unknown to her, the happy moments were over, and terror awaited her. “It was all good until we got to his house, I was shocked and terrified to death, in his house there were five other heavily built men, they were staying together, being the only woman I felt being in danger.” She narrates to Kenya Insights.

    “This one is fine than that one last night broda, we’re gonna have a good evening,” said one of the five men. Contrary to her thoughts that she was only coming to be with the Prince Charming alone, it was a whole pack of wolves plotting to have a piece of her. She attempted to scream but was threatened. They ran a train on her, rather took turns raping her severally.

     

    Numerous alike cases have been heard of, but many of these ladies are too ashamed to speak out instead they die with shame inside as the wolves continue to prowl on unsuspecting preys. They can’t even report to the police for the fear of slut shaming. Kenya Insights has established that this barbarous scheme has been in play for a time now and the most notorious instigators, the West Africa foreigners living in the semi-middle-class estates.

    On to a ranting phase, it’s inexcusable and with strongest terms possible horrific and perverting acts by these swindlers must be doomed. Ladies need just to take a damn chill pill on this Oga brodas craze, just because one has Naija accent doesn’t replicate to his pockets depths. Most of these guys are shams, faking lifestyles, can’t even afford to pay Sh.20,000 rent so they group and stay in one house, ten people as if it’s a refugee camp.

    None of these guys if not 1:10 isolated cases that they live one person in a house, they’re always in packs like PK. It’s known worldwide not just a theory that most of the Nigerian guys engage in fraudulent activities, and they come second in cyber crime after China. You know of the Yahoo boys, sending emails to preys how they have millions of dollars stashed wherever, play along and get conned.

    Drugs. Most of them living in Kenya don’t have any formal job but always doing ‘business’, no sugarcoating, most and not all, do dirty business deals.

    Many ladies have been duped into their drug selling syndicate, many Kenyan women with the thirst for quick cash have fallen to their traps, facilitating drug peddling, ending up in jail. Most recently a socialite by the name Pesh, who filled the internet with her bare humongous posterior pictures and stash of banknotes, flashy lifestyle, was arrested in Ghana and in jail for drugs trafficking. She was caught, she had been recruited in.

    The immoral breed of celebrities so called socialites or glorified prostitutes as some call them are being financed by drugs money according to underworld sources, most of them deal with the syndicate either directly or indirectly. But all these besides the point, ladies put your house in order, Fort Jesus wasn’t built in a day.

    Life’s about taking risks but don’t take too much risk in this line. Most of the West Africa guys living in Eastlands are plain broke, keep that in mind, and the rich ones are with their counterparts in Runda. They’re parasitic or romantic as you prefer to call them, will help you unstrap your bra when you get home even wash your lungs to have you at their mercy. The wolves of Umoja and Eastlands advances to their unending preys.

  • Toothless EACC Fails To Tackle the Sh.52M Chickengate Scandal as Deadline Lapses

    Toothless EACC Fails To Tackle the Sh.52M Chickengate Scandal as Deadline Lapses

    Integrity House, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters in Nairobi
    Integrity House, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters in Nairobi

    The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has apparently embarked on a cat and mouse games in dealing with the Chickengate probe- the Sh.52M bribery scandal involving National Exams Council and the electoral commission. The EACC Chairman Philip Kinisu in February promised that the investigations into the matter would be concluded in under a month.

    On March 18, the EACC boss Halakhe Waqo appearing before a parliamentary committee said that the report was finished, and he would forward the files to DPP Tobiko for the prosecution of those involved by 30th June. As it turned out, this was all a bluff, and the commission seems to have done zero investigations or is sitting on the report.

    The scandal involved inflation of ballot papers prices as part of the kickbacks from the UK’s printing firm, Smith and Ouzman Ltd in the heights to 2013 elections. IEBC Chairman Issack Hassan tops the list of Kenyan officials who ‘ate’ the chicken. Others named in the scandal Davis Chirchir, an IEBC Commissioner then (he was rewarded with Energy CS post in Jubilee and was later sacked over graft allegations), James Oswago, Gladys Boss Shollei.

    While the Kenyan counterparts are roaming free with no fear, a London court sentenced two directors of the printing company involved in the bribery scandal to jail. UK government even handed over the files and pieces of evidence they used to imprison the bribing US firm to the Kenyan authorities. EACC was tasked to investigate then forward files to the DPP.

    Mentioned in the Chickengate scandal. From left: Mr Davis Chirchir, former Energy CS; Paul Wasanga, former KNEC
    Mentioned in the Chickengate scandal. From left: Mr Davis Chirchir, former Energy CS; Paul Wasanga, former KNEC

    EACC is yet to do what they were mandated to do. Less can be written home about EACC effectiveness, countable or no prominent graft case that they’ve successfully solved. In the latest budgetary allocations, EACC got Sh. 2B more to their kitty. Kenya loses approximately Sh. 700B annually to corruption and most, if not all of it, is never recovered.

    The anti-graft commission has been actively viewed as a pro graft body with critics saying it’s not free from executive control.

    In the height of NYS scandal, EACC did ‘investigations’ and gave the then Devolution CS Ann Waiguru a clean bill of health. It later turned out money was lost in NYS and the ‘clean’ Waiguru was named as the mastermind of the nearly a billion-shilling rip off scheme.
    Some people jokingly refer to EACC as the clearing commission, a quick refuge for the graft kings.

    They rush here for clearance after looting. The legitimacy, reputation and integrity of the anti-graft body is highly questionable and leaves more to desire. The CEO Halakhe has also been named in several scandals with many critics accusing him of being subject to compromise by the corruption cartel.

    Why is it taking EACC long to act on the Chickengate scandal, what more do they need when the UK government already made work easier and handed them over the evidence for the prosecution and nailing the suspects.

  • How Kisumu MP Ken Obura and His Briefcase NGO Frustrated a Ksh.30M Medical Equipment Donation

    How Kisumu MP Ken Obura and His Briefcase NGO Frustrated a Ksh.30M Medical Equipment Donation

    Kisumu Central MP Ken Obura
    Kisumu Central MP Ken Obura

    John Odullah, a lawyer from Karachuonyo n Homabay County, met and struck a rapport with Mr Hans Frederick Dydensborg- the president of Global Medical Aid and an advocate for the Danish Supreme Court, in 2014. Mr Hans was in the country for a conference.

    Being a Kenyan of goodwill, Odullah asked Mr Hans if he could make a donation of medical equipment to his home county, to which Mr Hans obliged. Mr Odullah contacted his friend, Kisumu Central MP Ken Obura to be the consignee for the container Mr Hans was going to ship in.

    Obura agreed to this and used his NGO (Ken Obura Foundation) to bring it into the country. Being a charitable organisation, they thought it wouldn’t attract huge tax rates. When the shipment docked in Obura’s name, port authorities demanded up to Sh.7M for clearance.

    The amount was too huge for the MP so they asked the county government of Homabay to chip in and help. The county government later backed off leaving off the charity project in limbo.

    Gutted with impediments and constant demands for money, Mr Hans recently flew in the country to try and get the container cleared. His efforts to get in touch with the consignee, Mr Obura, bore no fruits as the legislator embarked on cat and mouse games. He lied that he was out of the country but was seen in Parliament buildings on the same day.

    Well-wishers loading medical equipment as donations destined for Africa
    Well-wishers loading medical equipment as donations destined for Africa

    On deeper investigations, Mr Hans realised that the said Ken Obura Foundation only exists on paper with no physical address. Obura, according to the frustrated donor, was plotting with port officials to buy time for the container to be declared late for clearance and put up for auction. He would then swing in, buy it at a reduced value and then sell the consignment to the counties at the market price.

    Items in the container included endoscopy devices, a fundus camera, two x-ray developers, 363 disinfection scopes, eight washing and disinfection machines, a dexa scanner, 30 microscopes, a paraplegic laboratory and 120 infusion single and triple pumps.

    Homabay County and it’s neighbours are faced with high HIV/AIDS prevalence, not to mention water-borne diseases and other infections. Add that up with the averagely low income of the residents, and the medical donation would have gone a long way in improving the health and livelihood of the residents, but greed and personal interest have gotten in the way.

    For 19 months, the container with medical equipment donation valued at Sh.30M meant for poor Kenyans who are unable to afford quality healthcare lay at the Mombasa port.

    Corrupt officials at Mombasa port demanded that Mr Hans pay a Sh.2M bribe to have the container cleared, but he wouldn’t oblige. He turned to Mombasa county to pay the clearance fee and take ownership of the donation, but they too declined the offer.

    Defeated and frustrated, Mr Hans redirected the shipment back to Denmark. That’s how Homabay County residents lost out on a Sh30M medical donation.

  • How a Barclays Bank Customer Lost Sh.600,000 in a Click, A Usual Insider Fraud Scheme

    How a Barclays Bank Customer Lost Sh.600,000 in a Click, A Usual Insider Fraud Scheme

    Barclays Bank HQs in Nairobi
    Barclays Bank HQs in Nairobi

    A stressed fan of my investigation pieces approached me with what is not shocking since I’ve heard such cries before. Because of security reasons and on her request, her identity shall remain anonymous. The names used in this article are fictitious with the story continuing as it was narrated.

    Marion works with Qatar Airways as an air hostess and lives in a Gulf city where she mostly spends most of her times on land notwithstanding the fact that nearly all her time she’s afloat the air.

    With her career catching up and the pay smiling on the other side, she thought wise to make savings back home. After consolidation, she chose on Barclays bank as the right prospect to use given its worldwide presence, and since she’s a trot, that would present a better option.

    Two weeks ago, she flew back to Kenya, opened a savings account with Barclays made a deposit of over a million bob. Considering her investment was in better hands, she continued with her work, flew to the US almost immediately after opening the account.

    Unfortunately, while in the US, she was mugged and lost her purse plus her phones too. Being precautious, she almost immediately called Barclays Bank back home as a security measure on her account. Travelled back to her residential Gulf country where she renewed her line she was initially using.

    This was when the cat and mouse games with the staff in Nairobi started. Marion originally opened the account with her Kenyan phone number linked to it, and now that she wasn’t in a position to access that line which went along with her stolen items, she filed to have contact number changed to her present’s.

    cash

    She intended to access the money in her account, and the only way of doing this was by activating internet banking. A pin is supposed to be sent to her number to activate the system. Before this could happen, the staff were to send her forms via email to fill for the internet banking system to be activated.

    Concealed to her, a fleecing scheme was in its primary stages with the communication spark. Instead of promptly, sending the forms, they bought time and only sent them to her days later and this when she discovered the shock of her life.

    Someone had fraudulently accessed her account and withdrew Sh.600,000 in an unexplainable transfer. Faced with the bitter reality and shocking discovery, she called the bank to inquire how this possibly happened while herself hadn’t made any transfer transaction. As usual, they told her to give them time as the fraud unit worked to establish how this could’ve happened.

    From my investigations, there are minimal incidences that this could’ve happened, and all pointers take the directions at an insider plot at the bank. When Marion lost her items, she didn’t have her Barclays ATM card in it. In fact, she’s yet to collect the card from the bank. This rules out cybercrime instance by stealing bank details by blackhat criminals.

    airhostess

    She was yet to activate internet banking service so there were nearly zero percent chances of effecting internet transactions by fraudsters or herself unless the bank had activated this service without her consent. Which in that case is criminal.

    As she would later come to realise, the transaction was enabled via mobile banking, a service that again she hadn’t subscribed for. The only person who activates this, the bank. A basic explanation here, someone inside the bank enabled this services, accessed her account, transferred the cash without her knowledge.

    The bank would’ve locked down her account the moment she called to inform them of her items lost and asking to switch contact numbers. They took a time to send her the internet banking activation emails in what now looks like a strategy to buy time for them to cook ways of accessing her account and making the illegal transfers.

    The bank insists, they’re investigating the matter, but these developments expose what could be a bigger scandal going on within the bank. You can bet this isn’t an isolated case and that the staff could be actively involved in this fraud plot. If this amount is anything to go by then billions could be lost to rogue bankers schemes annually.

    The bank must come out and weed out the criminal elements in the desks, crippling many people’s incomes, unless, its party to the larger syndicate. Marion is patiently waiting for answers, as she waits the fraudsters could be preying on another victim. Are you a victim of this same scheme or any fraudulent deals going on at any local bank? Email me ([email protected]) I will investigate the matter and expose the evil elements.

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  • Cheap Tilapia From China Sold In Kisumu Bred on Feces and Laced With Chemicals

    Cheap Tilapia From China Sold In Kisumu Bred on Feces and Laced With Chemicals

    The cheap tilapia imported from China being sold in Kisumu
    The cheap tilapia imported from China being sold in Kisumu

    The news of cheap tilapia fish sold in Kisumu and environs has in the past days been the topic of debate. Being a delicacy of the lake community, a smart but rather conniving businessman saw the opportunity to import fish from China.

    There has been a steady decline in fish supply in the region with fishermen citing a decrease in fish population in Lake Victoria. Fish population in Africa’s biggest freshwater lake has been the downfall in the recent times due to some reasons. With the supply being unable to meet the demand for fish, businessmen resorted to importing tilapia from China.

    The most shocking part is the imported fish is way cheaper than the local ones. Tilapia, locally known as Ngege, goes at a market price of Ksh.300 while the Chinese tilapia is just a mere Sh.30, a 100% reduction in price. The fish is transported and kept frozen in boxes where they’re sold and distributed to different market zones. Local leaders have come out saying this is a sabotage of the local economy in which fishing is the primary economic pillar. But that’s not even the worst.

    A fish farm in China
    A fish farm in China

    In a random research conducted by Kenya Insights, we’ve established that the cheap tilapia being sold to the locals come with dangerous repercussions with them. Most of the fish being sold are bred and fed on raw sewage as a way of cutting costs and contaminated with microbes like salmonella.

    Fish farming is a thriving venture in China. However, there are set fish feeds that the government allows farmers to use, but most farmers do not adhere to this standards. In several disgusting videos we viewed on the internet of fish rearing, farmers opt for raw sewage to feed the fish claiming the government-recommended manure is too expensive.

    Demand for fish imports from China continues to go up worldwide with US alone consuming over 30% of seafood from China. Feeding the fish with faeces isn’t even half of it, the tilapia are frozen before package, and the ice used in this process is also made from sewage water according to a Bloomberg report in 2012.

    Given the health risks posed to the farmers themselves, they’re adding chemicals like illegal and powerful pesticides and antibiotics to fight off and calm down stressed fish to the fish feed and water to counter bacterial and fungal infections.

    A common anti-bacteria they use is nitrofuran which was banned in animal husbandry in China itself, USA, and Europe as lab tests proved that it caused cancer in rats.

    A fishmonger sets up her merchandise at the famous fish retail market in Kisumu, Oile.
    A fishmonger sets up her merchandise at the famous fish retail market in Kisumu, Oile.

    As the poisoned and faeces bred tilapia continue to fill plates given its economic reprieve, consumers must look forward to a future of unexplainable illnesses. The pandemic isn’t closed to Kisumu alone, given the market pyramid in Kenya, there’s a high probability this Cheap China tilapia has gotten its way to most parts of the country including the leading cities as Nairobi, Nakuru and Mombasa.

    In our next piece, we will expose and explain the persons behind this health risk venture in Kisumu. Next time you order for that tilapia, you might want to ask the seller kama ni ya China

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  • Why Detained Killer Officers Must Be Given Maximum Protection.

    Why Detained Killer Officers Must Be Given Maximum Protection.

    DCI Muhoro, Head of Flying Squad John Kariuki when they appeared before the court on Tuesday
    DCI Muhoro, Head of Flying Squad John Kariuki when they appeared before the court on Tuesday

    The murder of lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwendwa and their taxi driver Joseph Muiruri by suspected police officers has in the past days clutched not only local headlines but also international attention. Human rights bodies led by the supreme UN have come out in full gear to condemn the brutal murder of the three.

    In a quick progress, four officers suspected to have been behind the killings have been held behind bars for days now as investigations continue. The officers suspected of carrying out the killings are Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Chebulet, Leonard Maina Mwangi and Silvia Wanjiku.

    According to autopsy results, the victims were painfully tortured before being killed. Uniformly, they were hit with blunt objects with the most impact to their heads and chest. According to the report, lawyer Willie’s testicles were crushed, showing extreme pain they endured in their last moments.

    Traditionally, such high-profile executions are expected of the elite unit of police like the flying squad. However, the killing of the three is being blamed on the perceived inferior Administration Police, which brings to focus a new face of the AP. The Parliamentary Security Committee is envisioning disbanding the unit and merging it with the Kenya Police following constant complaints on their rogue inclinations.

    When the news of Fredrick Leliman’s arrest reached Mlolongo residents, they went in a celebratory mood. According to a resident talking to me on anonymity conditions, the officer known by the nickname Maasai, is a dreaded figure in the locality. The officer, according to my source, is known for ruthless eliminations. “He is ruthless and fears no one, and he kills at will. He has killed so many young men here, and nobody dares to raise a voice. If you try, he comes for you.”

    Another credible source tells me the dreaded officer in the month of June alone has executed over 25 young men in Mlolongo area where he is stationed. Most of these men are either suspected criminals or in some cases feigned. A good number of complaints about him are being processed according to my source at IPOA.

    Leliman’s latest victim is a woman currently nursing gunshot wounds at Kenyatta National Hospital. She, in a company of another woman who unfortunately succumbed, were passersby and witnessed an execution. The trigger happy Maasai pulled the trigger on the women.
    The three suspects operate as a team, according to reports, with their female counterpart Silvia Wanjiku being their designated driver in any of their operations. They are stationed in the same camp.

    The suspected officers; Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Chebulet, Leonard Maina Mwangi and Silvia Wanjiku appeared at the Milimani Law courts on Monday
    The suspected officers; Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Chebulet, Leonard Maina Mwangi and Silvia Wanjiku appeared at the Milimani Law courts on Monday

    If these signs are anything to go by, then the suspects hold crucial information on extra-judicial killings which would easily implicate their seniors. In most extra-judicial executions, a source who requested anonymity for security reasons, tells me that junior officers must get the green light from the top brass before carrying out a killing.

    With FBI now handling the case, the senior officers who issued out instructions for the executions and had dirt on their hands must be very scared. Being a devil’s market, to protect themselves and avoid falling into FBI net, one can get to the detained officers to silence them before they spill any bean.

    If the FBI investigations focus on the larger dragnet of extrajudicial killings, then the suspects are technically witnesses who are crucial to the investigations, and we know what happens to witnesses in this country.

    Extra-judicial killings have robbed the country of great people and if the lawyer’s case is going to be the breaking point then let it be, let mountains shake and the Eskimos sweat if that’s what it will take. Keep these officers safe, and they’re the asset to the prosecution which needs to do excellent investigations and unravel the mystery murders and let Willie Kimani and his compatriots be the last victims of rogue officers.

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  • How Western Countries Including Israel Contribute to Kenya’s Killer Squad and Extra Judicial Killings

    How Western Countries Including Israel Contribute to Kenya’s Killer Squad and Extra Judicial Killings

    Visiting Israel PM Netanyahu inks his signature in Statehouse
    Visiting Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu inks his signature in Statehouse

    Anti-extra-judicial killings demonstrations were staged in most parts of the country on Monday following the gruesome murder of lawyer Willie Kimani alongside his client and a taxi driver. The three bodies were found floating at Oldonyo Sabuk river where they had been dumped.

    The three are suspected to have been kidnapped by police officers before being tortured and eventually brutally murdered. Willie was working with IJM and IPOA with the primary focus being on police brutality cases.

    The latest killings have rattled the country and incited the wrath of the majority of the civil society and law society together with leaders from across the board. The killings have been widely condemned, and calls for the disbandment of the killer squad by the state suspected to be behind extrajudicial killings have been renewed across the country.

    Kimani’s murder comes only two months after businessman Jacob Juma was fell by mysterious gunmen along Ngong Road. The state-owned hit squad has been widely blamed for the assassination. As of now, three administration police officers are being held over the killings of the lawyer while the Public Prosecution Office is expected to open a public tribunal that will look into the murder of Jacob Juma. Director of Criminal Investigations had written to the DPP to open public tribunal after their initial investigations failed to bear fruits. The piling cases of extrajudicial killings hence elicited maximum condemnation.

    The blood-stained Mercedes-Benz where Jacob Juma was shot dead. Police hit squad has been blamed for the murder
    The blood-stained Mercedes-Benz where Jacob Juma was shot dead. Police hit squad has been blamed for the murder

    According to reports, as of 2015, over 500 extra judicial killings had been executed by the police. A 12-member hit squad nicknamed the Kwekwe Squad drawn from the elite forces, is allegedly constituted with one aim; eliminating elements that the state deems as troublesome. Kwekwe squad was highly blamed for the killings targeting Mungiki members, and most human rights bodies put the number of killings in this operation at a triple digit.

    A good number of Muslim clerics and followers suspected of being linked to Al-Shabaab have also been fell by unknown assailants. The killings have been blamed on the hit squad, a claim that the government has been denying.

    Leading to his death, Abubakar Shariff Ahmed aka Makaburi in series of interviews with Western media predicted his death. In one instance, he told UK’s Daily Mail that he was living on borrowed time, and his killing was a forgone conclusion. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he singled out the Anti-Terrorism Unit as the ones who’d execute him. In April 2014 Makaburi was shot dead by hitmen on a motorcycle while leaving Shanzu Law Courts where he had attended his terrorism charge mentions.

    In April 2014 Makaburi was shot dead by hitmen on a motorcycle while leaving Shanzu Law Courts where he had attended his terrorism charge mentions.

    How did Kenya establish such a lethal terror squad?

    A hit squad member remains anonymous in an interview with Al Jazeera opening up on the extra judicial killings
    A hit squad member remains anonymous in an interview with Al Jazeera opening up on the extra judicial killings

    Aljazeera, in an investigative documentary, unearthed the existence of Kenya’s killer squad. The international outlet exclusively managed to talk to members of the lethal squad and conducted anonymous interviews with them.

    Speaking to Al Jazeera, the four men – all members of Kenyan intelligence and special police units – said they had all been involved in the assassination of terror suspects, with one claiming to have killed more than 50. ‘We don’t arrest,’ a gunman from the Radiation Unit of the Kenyan General Service Unit’s (GSU) elite Recce Company told the Al Jazeera Investigative Unit.

    The gunman appeared in the programme ‘Inside Kenya’s Death Squads’ alongside a commando from Recce Company, a member of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) and a spy for the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS).

    According to Al Jazeera, all of the officers play an integral part in Kenya’s counter-terrorism strategy and all have had a hand in assassinating suspects.

    Kenyan police have assassinated nearly 500 terrorism suspects in the context of an extrajudicial killing program supported by intelligence provided by Israel and the United Kingdom, Al Jazeera investigation revealed.

    Slain Cleric, Makaburi in an heated interview with UK's Daily Mail reporter Paul Bentley
    Slain Cleric, Makaburi in an heated interview with UK’s Daily Mail reporter Paul Bentley

    According to the officers who talked to Al Jazeera, Israel and the U.K. provide training, equipment and intelligence to Kenyan officers on how to “eliminate” suspects targeted by Kenyan security forces.

    Both Israel and the U.K. denied involvement. The U.K. Foreign Office added that it had “raised concerns” with the Kenyan government over such “serious allegations.”

    The police killings, according to the ATPU officer speaking to Al Jazeera, are ordered by Kenya’s National Security Council and run into hundreds every year. “Day in, day out, you hear of eliminating suspects,” the officer said. “Since I was employed, I’ve killed over 50. I do become proud because I’ve eliminated some problems,” said another officer.

    Kenyan police put the lifeless body of slain Muslim cleric Abubakar Shariff Ahmed into the back of a police pickup truck on a highway in Mombasa, Kenya, Tuesday, April 1, 2014. Attorney Mbugua Mureithi, attorney for radical Islamic leader Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, who had been sanctioned by the United States and the United Nations for supporting the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab, said his client has been assassinated Tuesday along with another man whose identity has not yet been established, near the Shimo la Tewa prison in Mombasa, Kenya. (AP Photo)
    Kenyan police put the lifeless body of slain Muslim cleric Abubakar Shariff Ahmed into the back of a police pickup truck on a highway in Mombasa, Kenya, Tuesday, April 1, 2014. Attorney Mbugua Mureithi, attorney for radical Islamic leader Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, who had been sanctioned by the United States and the United Nations for supporting the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab, said his client has been assassinated Tuesday along with another man whose identity has not yet been established, near the Shimo la Tewa prison in Mombasa, Kenya. (AP Photo)

    The ATPU officers contend that Kenya’s weak judicial system forced them to resort to assassinations, as police have failed to produce strong enough evidence to prosecute terrorism suspects.

    “If the law cannot work, there’s another option … eliminate him,” an officer explained.

    Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Security Council members denied the allegations.

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