Bribery between Nairobi City County senior officers and county assembly oversight committees has become the order of the day at City Hall.
Reports have emerged of how some officers at the county have pocketed senior county assembly members to avoid being summoned or grilled on suspected corrupt dealings.
Top on the list is Acting County Secretary Patrick Onalo who has sealed all possible avenues for him to appear before committees to respond to questions related to departmental fraud and procurements irregularities where he is suspected to have played a crucial role.
Onalo is on the spot for working behind the scenes with rogue County Executive Committee Members to arbitrarily remove and transfer to other docket officers who are deemed to be an impediment to the looting spree.
Together with Chief Officer Finance Asha Abdi, they have overseen irregular transactions without the authority of the use department.
This was brought to the public limelight by the chairman County Public Service Board Thomas Kasoa who complained to Onalo about sector heads assigning duties to officers outside their appointed substantive positions.
The letter dated 7th November, 2023 demanded that any office performing duties outside their designated position to revert to their substantive position immediately.
Some of the officers who were affected include Harry Mwahari who used to work in the department of Trade, Commerce, Tourism and Cooperatives as the Deputy Director, Vivian Mavua, Beth Muthoni, Brian Oyando, Ambrose Musau, Denis Muia, Mary Maina and Mohammed Bashir.
The county has been unable to also explain circumstances under which the former head of investigation by the name Birech lost his position.
Kasoa’s letter has clearly not changed anything with recent visits to the county by our undercover reporters indicating that officers are still serving in positions where they were not substantively appointed.
Onalo is believed to have compromised probes by the labor and Public Accounts Committee at the county assembly.
Another letter dated 10th November,2023 from Chief Officer Disaster Management and Coordination Bramuel Simiyu to Chief Finance and Economic Planning Asha Abdi was headlined : ” UNAUTHORISED COMMITMENTS AND TRANSACTION ON IFMIS FOR THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION SECTOR.It detailed how a number of irregular and unauthorized transactions were made on the IFMIS platform that affects the sector budget.A case in point as per the letter is commitment of Ksh 15,658,500 invoiced from the fire fighting and rescue development expenditure.
It has also emerged that some officers are bribing their way up to big positions where they are appointed to serve in acting capacity.
This will always be followed by arbitrary suspensions and reinstatements in what has for many years been the norm when there is a need to swindle taxpayers money.
For instance, Ward Development Fund Chief Executive Officer Josephine Kithu was forcefully ejected out of office, sent on forced leave then redeployed but with no official communication.
As established by the County Assembly Labour Committee, the CEO was removed and another person hastily appointed in an acting capacity. She was thrown out on July 14 under the watch of constables from the county inspectorate.
Despite her compulsory leave ending on 30th September, 2023 and subsequently redeployed to the finance department to no particular officer, the officer has been reporting to work and working from the corridors.
Engineer Eston Kimathi is the person who was appointed to replace her despite not having been vetted nor appointed by the Public Service Board which has the mandate to appoint persons to hold or act in office.
As established by the labor committee, Kithu wrote to the County Secretary explaining how she was forcefully ejected from office during the July 14 incident. She received a letter, dated June 13, directing her to report to the County Executive Member for Finance.
The letter said the officer was supposed to be assigned other duties on the Finance docket. However, this has never happened despite reporting to work daily.
Our investigations established that Engineer Kimathi had to part with a huge amount in bribe to serve at the WDF office. He is still the Deputy Director in the transport unit.
It has separately emerged that some officers are also receiving bribes from contractors who are doing shoddy work
In November,the county blamed a contractor for the damage witnessed on some city roads as a result of the rains that were pounding the capital city.
Surprisingly, it is Onalo who came out to state that the contractor ignored some of the advice given by the county to develop a drainage system in an area full of both residential and office developments.
“The County Government, through the Urban Planning-Enforcement and Compliance department issued two development stoppage notices on 6th November 2023 (Serial no. 2698) and on 6th June 2023 (Serial no. 2361) which were ignored by the Developer forcing the County Government to take necessary action,” Mr Analo said.
However, the contractor is feared to have bribed some senior finance and road officers to do half the work but still get full payments as it has been the practice at City Hall.
This comes at a time when media reports have revealed that the DCI has grilled at least 70 senior county officers over graft.
Those who top the list and have recorded statements more than once include Chief Officer in charge of Finance, Asha Abdi, Head of Treasury Martha Wambugu, Chief Cashier, Shadrack Nyamai and Peter Gitau who is also in the finance department and has since been moved from his department.
Finance Executive Charles Kerich, Head of Procurement Richard Mogaka and have also recorded statements.
Others are, Ambrose Musau, Vivian Mavua, Beth Muthoni, Denis Muia, Brian Oyando, Kevin Musamia, the officers have gained massive from corruption dealings, his main clients are suppliers and contractors from the Somali community and a few Kikuyus, he is currently building state-of-the-art-house.
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