A storm is swirling around Kisumu politician Stephen Nyandiare after fresh details emerged accusing him of taking thousands of dollars from an American investor in a fake gold deal that collapsed spectacularly and ended in a bitter fallout.
Documents seen by The Informant show how what began as a friendly business opportunity between Nyandiare and his longtime acquaintance Kelly Radnitzer quickly turned into a months-long saga of delays, false promises and threats. Nyandiare, who has already announced his intention to run for the Kisumu Senate seat in 2027, is said to have convinced Radnitzer that he could link him to a Congolese dealer with access to two hundred kilos of gold.
Radnitzer trusted him. They had known each other for years. So he boarded a flight from Texas to Nairobi early last year and met Nyandiare several times as they discussed a deal that looked tidy on paper. Nyandiare had registered a company called Zumr Africa in May 2023 and listed it at Marsabit Plaza along Ngong Road. This is the company he said would act as the handler of the entire operation.
The agreement signed on May 13, 2024 laid out a seemingly professional arrangement. Zumr Africa would link the seller, a Congolese national named Olivier Omatuku, to the buyer, a Dubai-based firm known as Essilux Trading. The first five kilos of gold were supposed to be shipped to Dubai for refining as a test before the larger consignment was sent. Payment was to be made only after the buyer had physically received and verified the gold.
Even with all these assurances, there was a catch. The contract required both sides to pay millions in taxes, levies and airfreight fees before the gold could leave the country. On the very day the deal was signed, Zumr Africa sent Radnitzer an invoice of twenty four thousand dollars for so-called government taxes. Then a second company suddenly came into the picture. Oasis Aviation, which claims online to operate fifty planes out of Wilson Airport, issued an invoice of one hundred and twenty eight thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars to airlift the gold. A check later revealed that Oasis is not registered or licensed to operate any aircraft in Kenya and appears to exist only on its website.
Another invoice soon followed from Mo Law Advocates demanding two thousand dollars for legal services. Believing the cargo was on the way, Radnitzer travelled to Dubai and waited. Days turned into weeks and then into months. He stayed there for five months without receiving even a single gram of the promised gold. The stories kept shifting and the excuses never ended.
Frustration finally pushed him to start demanding a refund. What he got instead was resistance and hostility. After weeks of pressure, sixteen thousand dollars was refunded on February 8 through a company called Dexis Investment Holdings. But the refund came with a stinging warning letter from Nyandiare’s lawyers accusing Radnitzer of behaving in an extortionist and unprofessional manner and attempting to tarnish Nyandiare’s name.
Radnitzer insists he lost far more than he recovered but says he has now given up on the possibility of seeing the rest of the money. He is considering legal action both in Kenya and overseas. The documents he shared indicate he may not have been dealing with a legitimate trade at all and that the deal could have been built entirely on fake companies, forged credibility and personal trust.
As Nyandiare positions himself for the 2027 senatorial race, the scandal has cast a shadow over his campaign and raised serious questions about his business dealings. The American investor says he was lured with the promise of gold but all he got was a costly lesson in deception.
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