Happening Now: DP Gachagua's impeachment motion in Parliament
Former Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has called for the prosecution of five former Kitui County officers over procurement irregularities and financial malpractices at the Kitui County Textile Company (Kicotec).
The development comes at a time when a Senate watchdog committee declared the entity a crime scene, raising concerns over questionable transactions during the tenure of former Governor Charity Ngilu.
Appearing before the Senate County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee chaired by Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, EACC said they received allegations of procurement irregularities and conflict of interest against Ms Ngilu in the establishing and running of Kicotec.
At the heart of the accusations was the involvement of Trendy Links Limited, a company allegedly owned by the ex-county boss’ son, with the entity.
Upon investigations, the anti-graft agency said it was established that Trendy Limited was awarded a contract for supply of machines with installation, commissioning and training of operators for garment manufacturing.
The contract was signed on May 21, 2018 at a sum of Sh66.4 million in an open tender advertised in April 2018 with Trendy the only company submitting a bid.
According to EACC, investigations further revealed that payments amounting to Sh41.57 million were made by the county government to Trendy Links in batches between July 2018 and July 2019.
Vouchers burnt down
However, the payments for the training component, amounting to Sh22.57 million, is still a pending bill in the county.
“It is worth noting that the payment vouchers for the amounts paid were not provided. The county officials informed the commission that the same were burnt down in a fire in July 2019,” said EACC boss Twalib Mbarak in a letter dated October 7, 2024.
“The commission concluded the investigations and forwarded the file to the Director of Public Prosecutions on July 10, 2023 with recommendations to charge five county officials on various corruption and economic crimes related offences,” he added.
While also appearing before the committee, Syolinga Youth Polytechnic Board Chairperson Mercy Kitonga narrated how the county executive invaded the school’s land in 2018, uprooting greenhouses at the institution to make way for the construction of Kicotec.
“Nobody told us what was happening. We faced a lot of harassment. We were called several times to meetings to hand over the title deed for the school but we refused,” said Ms Kitonga.
She said officers from the county told them the land belongs to them and in 2019 they were told to stop enrolling students, close and move out.
When the school management declined the demands, serious fights between the school and the county executive began.
She said a shambolic public participation was hurriedly conducted by the county executive to force the school to hand over the titles but the institution went to court challenging the process.
“The public participation involved some boda boda operators who were called to the chief’s office. My name was put as one of the participants yet I did not attend the exercise,” she said.
Several former county ministers and chief officers, especially those in trade, infrastructure and education, were implicated in the forceful takeover which started as a well-intentioned plan to develop the school land.
“We all thought all was well when the county brought us water tanks and even drilled a borehole. But then they started fencing the land and constructing a factory,” said a manager of the polytechnic.
The board was then summoned to Ms Ngilu’s office over the plan to handover titles but no agreement was reached.
“I signed everything because I was an employee of the county government and so I could not refuse,” said the manager.
The two officials were responding to a question by Narok Senator Ledama Olekina who wanted to know under what agreement Kicotec got hosted by the polytechnic.
“What was the arrangement that allowed Kicotec to be hosted by Syongila? Was there a lease agreement or money paid to Syongila or was the occupation forceful?” posed Mr Olekina.
Mr Brian Kyalo, a board member who had his appointment terminated in unclear circumstances in the run-up to 2022 elections, told the committee of interference in the running of the Kicotec by the county executive.
“The former Trade CEC Esther Kilonzi and the County Secretary then would write letters dictating to the Board to appoint certain individuals to run Kicotec. There was no autonomy,” said Mr Kyalo.
According to documents submitted to the committee, Sh168.3 million was spent by the county executive to purchase assets for the factory before Kicotec became an autonomous entity in 2019. However, there was no asset register provided during the handing over.
Kicotec was being run as a Unit under the Trade department with the sector doing all the procurements and expenditure and only became an independent entity in November 2019.
It also emerged that the county government did not hand over an asset register to the management of the new entity.
"We do not know how the value of Sh168 million for assets was arrived at. We are working on an assumption that the money was spent on purchasing the assets because we have no evidence on the same,” said Kicotec acting boss.
Ms Georginia Musembi, a former acting CEO, who was seconded from the Executive, was on the spot over suspicious withdrawals.
According to documents before the committee, Ms Musembi was withdrawing cash at will, sometimes even twice daily, some up to the tune of Sh541,000.
Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua alleged that Kicotec was a special-purpose vehicle created to siphon money from the county government.
“This was a conduit to siphon taxpayers’ money using not very clever ways. We should declare Kicotec a crime scene,” said Mr Wambua.
Senator Osotsi echoed the sentiments, saying Kicotec was a possible conduit to steal money from the county government.
“We want to know about the big contracts Kicotec bagged from the national and county governments like the one to produce uniforms for Kenya Police yet the accounts of the firm do not reflect the flow of the money. Where is that money in your financial records?” posed Mr Osotsi.
The firm did business with various ministries as well as Kakamega, Kiambu, Mombasa and Kisumu Counties.
The committee ordered for the county government to submit before it certified bank statements for Kicotec’s revenue and operations accounts, procurement plans and budget for the firm approved by the county assembly between 2018 and 2021.
Senator Osotsi also raised concerns over questionable transactions by the entity as well as inconsistencies in the operation of the two accounts of Kicotec.
“The reports we have indicate a lack of asset register for the entity despite Sh168.3 million being spent on the same. There is also no justification for the cash withdrawals by Georgina as there are no narrations to help account for the same,” said Mr Osotsi.
“How was Kicotec able to arrive at the value of the assets yet the auditor-general is saying they don’t have an asset register or any valuation of the assets?” he posed.
