Barely five months in office, the Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development Mr David Osiany seems to be on a mission to extort and reap maximum cash before the expiry of the current government’s term in office next year.
Mr Osiany who in conjunction with Citizen television news anchor, Trevor Ombija, owns a Public Relations and Marketing firm referred to as Crestwood Marketing has been pushing various institutions, mainly within the ministry to give contracts to his company, during visits guised as courtesy calls to various institutions to apparently encourage public-private partnerships.
The politically ambitious Osiany is so determined to use his position to secure as many deals as possible and mostly arm-twists those who are not persuaded by his approach.
“He follows a regular script where he visits an organization and interacts with the board, CEO and Staff members, but casually tells the CEO or Chair of the board that he’ll send someone later to speak to them. He then sends his Personal Assistant (PA) to solicit for money, PR or marketing jobs after the visits, with threats and repercussions for those who refuse to grant his wishes,” says a CEO of one of the organisations affected.
So ambitious is Osiany that he is almost, always accompanied by a television crew mostly from Citizen television, which has been affording him generous airtime on its prime 9PM news slot. It has not been established whether this is due to Ombija’s influence or not.
His operations have been so grandiose that he travels in a convoy, followed by a chase car. We have however not established whether the extra vehicles in Osiany’s convoy are personal or being funded by the government.
Trevor Ombija – Senior News Anchor Citizen TV
A background check on Osiany however shows that this is not his first attempt at shady deals. In November last year, his company, Crestwood Marketing, which was barely a year old then won a multi-million-shilling contract with the Kenya Wildlife service (KWS) to run a marketing campaign referred to as Zuru Kenya.
The campaign was meant to market Kenya as a tourist destination and persuade locals to take up domestic tourism to fill in the gaps left by international tourists who had stopped travelling because of Covid-19.
Contrary to the requirements that such projects go through competitive tendering and procurement before they are awarded, Crestwood won the tender without going through a competitive procurement process.
Some of the organisations/bodies where Osiany has directly solicited for money, tenders, marketing and PR jobs are listed below;
-State department of Trade and Enterprise
-May 10, 2021 visited the Biashara Centre, visited Centre of Excellence in Kariobangi run by the Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA).
-Olivado EPZ Ltd in Mrima, Muranga County. The company employs nearly 400 workers and produces extra virgin avocado oil.
– JJASM Distillery & Hilltop Dairy firm, a company based in Ikolomani, Kakamega where he issued a KEBS certification
-KIE, KIRDI and KEBS
-Kenya Export Promotion& Branding Agency (KEPROBA), body formed after Brand Kenya and Export Promotion Council were merged in 2019. KEPROBA implements export promotion and nation branding initiatives and policies to promote Kenya’s export of goods and services.
-Kenya Investment Authority (visited April 7, 2021)
-Sony Sugar Company Ltd (visited on March 31, 2021)
-Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) (visited on March 26, 2021) Most of the solicitation for money, marketing and communication jobs is from the 18 parastatals in the ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development where Osiany is the Chief Administrative Secretary.
-Has solicited for communication and marketing jobs from KEPSA
-How did he win a contract to offer communication and marketing services to the Kenya Wildlife Service
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