A troubled state agency has intensified its efforts to wade off critics who have relentlessly been on their necks over the past year.
In its latest plan in motion, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) has now desperately resulted in blocking patriotic netizens who dare to raise questions about some of the dubious activities perpetrated by crooked cabals at the top of the management’s hierarchy.
From one specific incident witnessed on Monday, 3 January 2021, the agency blocked this site’s Chief Editor Cyprian Nyakundi from accessing their official Twitter page.
This is after the accredited blogger exposed the State Corporation under the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works for proudly flaunting old projects that were initiated during President Mwai Kibaki’s regime.
“In late 2021, KURA were still posting roads built by Kibaki as part of their catalogue of achievements. We have to imagine a future without KENHA , KURA & KERRA,” Nyakundi wrote, citing the three agencies as a dangerous breeding ground for corruption.
This new tactic is an escalation of an earlier strategy where KURA launched an illegal crackdown on Kenyan journalists for blowing the lid on rampant corruption, nepotism and unscrupulousness in the procurement department.
Through the help of corrupt officers from the Special Crimes Unit (SCU), the agency plotted and executed the abduction and torture of two digital reporters in August 2021 for running a story that exposed stinking graft at KURA.
The expose unmasked various stalled road construction projects in the Nairobi metropolitan area granted to a company connected to an MP from Mandera County.
The journalists, Mr Jack Okinyi of Business Illustrated and Milton Were of Kenya Today were abducted by the police after they were lured to a hotel in Upper Hill.
Toxic Mistress
This came in the backdrop of a sombre mood reported to have rocked the agency headed by Director General Engineer Silas Kinoti.
From reports that circulated on local tabloids, both senior employees and ordinary staff at KURA have been quietly pleading to legal authorities to move in and save them from the toxicity at their workplace.
This is mainly due to the unwanted presence of a young female administrator who also doubles up as the Director General’s mistress.
Judy Mose, a junior clerical officer, is said to have exploited her more than cordial relationship with Engineer Kinoti that saw her quickly rise from just a mere paper and pen shuffler to a loathed egocentric figure at KURA.
According to insiders, she began wreaking havoc at the agency as early as 2018.
In one reported incident that stood out, employees are said to vividly recall one chaotic afternoon when a bitter and frustrated Judy reportedly bulged into Kinoti’s office to protest missing out on a lucrative multi-million road tender that was awarded to a different entity despite the Boss himself having assured her of bagging it.
The tender which was floated under the number [KURA/RMLF/CE/056/2020-2021]was for the Periodic Maintenance of Lot 7 Roads Nanyuki/Sweet Waters Road /Ngoro/ Theru/ Nanyuki Road in Nanyuki Municipality and was worth a whooping Sh 14.2 million.
To her surprise, it was instead awarded to a contractor by the name Kaboi Building Contractors Ltd on October 12, 2020, to Judy’s displeasure.
When she stormed out of the office that day, Judy was overheard swearing to teach one Engineer Mwangi “a lesson” for messing up the mouth-watering deal that would have seen her elevate to a different financial level.
Engineer Mwangi is an Acting Director in the Urban Roads Planning and Design department who has apparently not been happy with some of Judy’s shenanigans in the multibillion roads agency
Seen as the solitary voice of reason in the agency’s top hierarchy, he is known to be passionate and strict with ensuring that public procurement laws are always followed to the letter.
This has earned him quite a number of foes within KURA.
Mwangi is said to have been among the first to raise red flags on Judy Mose and Silas Kinoti’s quid pro quo deals which are now an open secret even to junior staff members.
The long-time mistress has been enjoying numerous intimate favours from the KURA boss to the frustration of other workers within the organization.
From some employee narrations anonymously acquired by this website, Judy is said to have been involved in a heated altercation with an unnamed senior engineer at KURA earlier this year over a parking spot for her brand new Toyota Fortuner KCZ 117Y, which sources from the organization say she keeps boasting of how she acquired on a cash basis from a showroom along Mombasa Road.
When the engineer stood his ground and refused to bow down to Judy’s arrogant orders, she quickly headed for the Director General’s office and pushed for Mr Kinoti to prefer disciplinary action against the employee.
As a result, engineers at KURA have since then ganged up and are eagerly awaiting a disciplinary process after which they intend to launch a mega go-slow, which will likely expose the agency’s dark procurement and financial crimes.
Perhaps an explanation for her pride and a false sense of entitlement is the allegation that Ms Judy Mose is reportedly the younger sister to Reuben Mayienda, KURA’s Director for Corporate Services who also doubles as the agency’s Head of Finance.
Fake Papers
Apart from the bells of nepotism ringing loud at KURA, it is another open secret within the agency that the academic papers Ms Judy used to secure employment are not authentic and that it was her brother, a certain Mr Reuben Mayienda, who helped her secure employment.
To prevent any chance of blowing cover, even Judy’s national ID was changed to reflect her fake name because her family name is Mayienda yet she has registered her Safaricom mobile number as Judy Mose.
The Director-General Mr Kinoti is also said to be aware of this fact.
Judy is alleged to have used the same fake academic papers to enrol for a degree programme at the University of Nairobi but she took off after a confidant informed her that the varsity had discovered her documents were illegitimate.
Thanks to leaking walls, it has now reportedly become common knowledge within KURA that Ms Judy Mose’s was illegally hired and unknown to her, some of the staff members have already confided in the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) in search of action.
Shoddy Deals
In fact, as a result of Judy’s mischief, KURA also reportedly attracted the attention of the Financial Reporting Center (FRC) which conducted a forensic audit that exposed several financial irregularities within the agency.
The FRC dossier says that on February 20 2020, the Mandera bank account started receiving funds from the county government.
On November 19 2020, for instance, the account received four cheques totalling Sh7.6 million.
Three withdrawals of Sh980,500, KShs 945,000, and Sh 950,000 were made immediately after the funds were paid.
The report says that the account holder would later transfer Sh3million to her account.
Judy is said to enjoy an elaborate network at KURA through which she even lodges fake per diem claims using phoney names.
Despite massive staff complaints about these irregularities, back in 2018, no disciplinary action was taken against her.
On the contrary, she was irregularly promoted.
Her impunity levels are said to be so high that she was overheard affirming how she earns additional salaries on fictitious names that she routinely forwards to Chinese roads contractors who win KURA tenders.
As though that is not enough, despite being a junior officer, she bulldozed her way into being illegally allocated a double cab Toyota designated for senior engineers within the agency, which was withdrawn later after angry staff leaked the information to the press.
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