All is not well at The Eldoret National Polytechnic. Weekly Citizen has information, a petition is being worked on to be delivered to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission to probe the matter. The institution falls under the ministry of Education under state department of Vocational and Technical Education Training. The current principal secretary is Dr. Julius
Jwan. He replaced Kevit Desai. Ever since he took over, Jwan running of the department has been suspect with word, he is deeply involved in favouring and influencing allocation of funds to certain institutions in the hands of his cronies for personal gains. NCIC chair is Rev Sam Kobia with commissioners among them Philip Okundi. The petition has tribal imbalance at the institution, nepotism in employment and tribalism in student recruitment.
It is said 98pc of both non-academic and the teaching staff are Kalenjins. Another petition is a dossier on corruption at TENP involving tender awards, list of suppliers and directors of firms mostly Kalenjin, inflated invoices and payment to suspicious firms is to be delivered to Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission at Integrity head office, Nairobi. Sources say, top managers and those calling shots at TENP boasts of pocketing EACC North Rift branch office and despite various dossiers, the local branch rarely acts. We could not immediately establish if it is true, TENP finance office has been deducting but not remitting monies meant for Pay As You Earn, National Social Security Fund and National Hospital Insurance Fund.
The issue of ghost workers employed with suspicious papers has also cropped up. According to sources, the principal Josphat Sawe is at loggerheads with a section of the governing council over what is termed poor management and failure to account for funds. The council is chaired by Simiyu Sitati. Other members of the council are Victoria Chepseba, Diana Lukosi, Wesley Mutai, Paul Murgor, Peter Okwemwa and Gichuru Mutilili. Sawe is the secretary to the council. The Kalenjins on the board are openly said to be frustrating Prof Sitati who at one time even planned to resign. They are openly undermining the chair with decisions made sideling Simiyu, Lukosi, Okwemwa and Mutilili.
Two multi-million projects are said to be dividing the board. A section of the members are questioning the amount used to construct Entebbes and Turkana East campuses. Also raising suspicion is town campus located in Berur House, Eldoret town. To complicate matters is the Entebbes and Turkana East projects were undertaken by contractors well linked to the management. TENP has been associated with strikes of late as students openly complain of poor services. Insecurity, tribalism and infighting among the teaching staff also a headache. To micromanage tenders, Sawe has planted Emily Rono and Samson Rono to run the lucrative department. According to insiders, the two hold similar positions with just different titles. One is head supply chain management department while another is head of supplies. Surprisingly, the two surnames are coincidentally Rono.
The two are said to own real estate running into millions of shillings. The two Ronos are key players in Sawe kitchen cabinet. Another dreaded member of the kitchen cabinet is the never smiling security officer Benjamin Silu commonly referred to as Saddam. Kennedy Mutai, head of information systems has Sawe ears. That tribalism is rife at the technical training is well seen as follows; Benjamin Maiyo (dean of students), Kennedy Mutai (manager), Tecla Kemei (head of supplies), Samson Rono (head of supplies) and Emily Rono (chain management head). Emmanuel Meres is deputy principal administration with James Mwangi deputy principal academics. During the last student strike, Mwangi being an outsider was blamed for the chaos.
Applied Sciences Department has Jackson Yator as the head. David Chepkangor heads Civil and Building Technology Department, David Kosgei (head of Electrical and Electronics Department) and Patrick Koech (deputy head Health Sciences Department. At the Health Sciences department, it is whispered, Koech the deputy head has more powers than his boss Joseph Chavutia who heads the department. It is said Koech has been scheming for Chavutia removal. Jane Kiprono is in charge of Hospitality, Nutrition and Dietetics department, with Wesley Rutto heading Mechanical Engineering Department. David Allube head Business Department and Solomon Kili Entrepreneurship Department head. Shadrack Yebei is head of Department Computing and Information Technology Department. Department Liberal Sciences and Chemical Engineering are also in hands of one community. Weekly Citizen has information, the strategic Finance department is headed by Richard Sang. Of the 14 members working under Sang, many have roots in Kalenjinland.
Sawe, Sang and two Ronos in procurement are faces calling shots in tender awards and payments. A shrewd operator, Sang the Finance officer is said to front companies associated with his relatives and friends to land supply tenders. We could not establish if it is true Sang has secretly employed a sidekick at the Finance department but our source could not rule it out. One such firm was twice paid Sh2m in suspicious circumstances. Sang owns properties in the name of immediate family members running into millions of shillings. Sang controls student finance, expenditure accounting and the cash office final account. One easily concludes, it has no national outlook. Even at one time the technical institution student union had majority of leaders from one tribe occupying plum positions.
By last week after your favourite Weekly Citizen broke the ills on its online edition, Sawe is said to have panicked and summoned a section of his inner core who blamed those on the council and bitter staff members of leaking the information to us. The issue of allowances paid to certain council members is coming to haunt Sawe and Sang. ***The Principal Sawe is running for Elgeyo Marakwet governorship race next year. Documents show, Sawe influenced an award of multi-million shillings computer supplies to a company linked to Senator Kipchumba Murkomen.
Murkomen brother is also supplying food to TNEP at higher prices. Sawe is serving on contract to end soon after Murkomen talked to then Education PS Belio Kipsang to extent it. Insiders say, the Murkomen family has minted millions of shillings from TNEP and the finance director favours them in processing payment. The finance director, from the kickbacks, has acquired huge chunks of land and is of late one of the richest farmers in Rift Valley but a private man in operations.
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