Here are Kenya’s ‘most corrupt’ counties

The anti-corruption agency is investigating 67 high profile cases touching on allegations of corruption and irregular procurement in Marsabit, Mandera, Samburu and Wajir Counties.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) chief executive officer Twalib Mbarak said the cases are part of 231 graft-related cases received and processed by the Commission touching on the four counties.

In a report submitted before the Senate Justice and Legal Affairs committee yesterday, the EACC boss said Marsabit County leads with 90 cases, followed by Samburu with 87 cases, Wajir 32 and Mandera 22.

“The Commission has prioritised 67 high impact cases which have been completed or are at various advanced stages of investigation,” said Mr Mbarak.

The development comes after Marsabit Senator Mohamed Chute had sought from the committee the details on the number and status of inquiries by EACC into allegations of corruption and irregular procurement in Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit and Samburu counties.

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Further, the senator wanted to know the number of cases the Commission has recommended to the Director of Public Prosecutions, stating how many of the cases were prosecuted and how many were referred back to the agency.

Mr Mbarak said some of the ongoing cases in Samburu County include allegations of embezzlement of funds by the Department of Lands through fraudulent imprest applications and false surrender documents amounting to Sh50 million.

There is also an inquiry into allegations of irregular recruitment to fill 23 positions by the Samburu County Assembly as well as claims of misappropriation of public funds by the county government in the purchase of survey equipment at an inflated cost of Sh9.6 million through Tikitas Limited.

He said an inquiry into inflation of tender for purchase of tractors from sh2.5 million to Sh6 million by Livestock CEC is pending in court as well as conflict of interest case against former Governor Moses Lenolkulal regarding supply of fuel through M/S Oryx Service Station.

Further, a Sh84 million asset recovery case against Mr Lenolkulal being assets acquired from irregular trading by the county government with Oryx is also still before court while a Sh3.5 million misappropriation of public funds in procuring vaccines for livestock in Samburu has been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

In Marsabit, there are six ongoing investigations into embezzlement of donated funds for drilling of boreholes and tree planting; Sh41.4 million payments for procurement of relief food to Drescoll Limited in the financial years ended 2019 and 2020 and Sh14.4 million procurement irregularities where county officers paid the amount for projects not delivered under the Kenya Urban Support Programme funded by World Bank.

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There is also an inquiry into Sh20 million relief food supply tender awarded to Masanach Construction Limited; sh20 million excavation tender for a water pan awarded to M/S Surupa Investment Limited and irregular award of tender for motor vehicle insurance to Takaful Insurance Company during the financial years ended June 2017 and 2018.

In Mandera County, former Governor Ali Roba is under investigation for allegations of irregularly employing 47 officers without involvement of the County Public Service Board while EACC is also seized of allegations of procurement irregularities in utilisation of Covid-19 funds by the county government in the financial year ended June 2020.

For Wajir, the agency is investigating allegations of conflict of interest against ex-Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mohamud through payment of Sh1.1 billion to 16 companies associated with him and his immediate family members between 2016 and 2020.

“Allegations of embezzlement of public funds by officials of the county government of Wajir amounting to Sh26.1 million has been finalised in court and the accused convicted,” said Mr Mbarak.

The EACC boss said nine reports on high impact investigations have been forwarded to the DPP with various recommendations out which the DPP has concurred with the Commission’s recommendation for prosecution of five cases and closure of four files due to insufficient evidence.

The four include recruitment of chief officers and the public service board in Marsabit County and alteration of the appropriation bill, 2014 while the other one is Sh3.5 million livestock vaccine procurement in Samburu County.

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