Ongoro in trouble over Sh48m paid out for ghost girls’ school

Former Kasarani MP Elizabeth Ongoro is a woman under siege, with anti-graft detectives hot on her heels over the alleged misappropriation of Sh48.9 million on a ghost school project in Kasarani, Nairobi.

Ms Ongoro, together with her husband Ferdinand Masha Kenga, are among 21 individuals and five entities that the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji want arrested and charged for a number of offences.

This comes after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) completed their investigations into allegations of embezzlement of public funds amounting to Sh48,907,826.

SIX SUSPECTS

Friday, a team of detectives from the EACC spent the better part of the day combing different places for the suspects, leading to the arrest of six.

The six include former Kasarani District Development Officer Kefa Omanga Omai, former Kasarani CDF Committee members Jecinta Akoth Apondi and Pamela Mudha, former Nairobi Provincial Accountant Nashon Odongo, Mr Douglas Parshet, former Kasarani CDF Fund Manager and Mr Vitalis Obunga Ogingo, a former Regional Accountant, Nairobi. They will be arraigned in court after processing.

“Ms Ongoro told us that she will present herself to our offices,” said one of the officers involved in the case.

EACC has also dispatched officers to Nyanza where it is believed that most of the suspects are still at large. However, one of the suspects is believed to be out of the country.

The suspects are accused of embezzling millions of shillings meant for construction of Kasarani Girls High School with funding from the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF).

PROCUREMENT LAWS

This is in addition to failing to follow procurement laws in relation to the construction.

Ms Ongoro served as Kasarani MP between 2007 and 2012 after being elected on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party ticket before she lost the seat in 2013 and was subsequently nominated to the Senate by the same party. She later decamped to Amani National Congress (ANC) party ahead of the 2017 General Election.

EACC Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak, in a statement, said the individuals have been under investigations for some time.

“The commission established that the award of the contract for the construction of the school was made without due regard to the procurement laws, the school does not exist and that payments were made to different individuals and companies associated to the NG-CDF patron and committee members,” he said.