After weeks of investigations, we bring to you the hitherto unknown dark details of a power struggle inside the National Youths Service (NYS) headquarters at Ruaraka
At the centre of it all is one James Kamau Kairu, a career government procurement officer who has grown immensely wealthy as a result of his close dealings with major suppliers.
Mr Kairu is a shrewd operator and a silently ambitious man, he is currently angling to become PS Youth & Sports in the next government, he is one of the top government officials heavily funding DP Ruto’s UDA party. If he succeeds in his scheming, he’ll technically and legally become the immediate boss of his current boss, Matilda Sakwa, the DG NYS who is said to be a die-hard supporter of Azimio. Mr Kairu will be Matilda’s boss since the state corporation will be domiciled within the Ministry of Youth & Sports. On her part, Matilda has unleashed all arsenals to frustrate and scuttle Kairu’s plans.
Mr James Kairu, middle row second from left in blue
In her scheme of things, Matilda has roped in the powerful NYS chair, Lt.Col (Rt) Njuki Mwaniki, a towering Azimio pillar in the Mt Kenya region.
A career administrator, Matilda is said to have reactivated her networks at OP in her quest to stop Kairu’s plans. She has the backing of one Wanyama Musiambo (Deputy Head of Public Service) & Kennedy Kihara, another long-serving power man within the deep state formation.
Mr Kihara, who doesn’t see eye to eye with Kairu is more than enthusiastic to assist Matilda, The Weekly Vision newspaper has established. On his part, Mr Kairu, who we established is equally well-rooted in the system although his godfathers remain shadowy. He joined NYS without being vetted for the job, a testament to how powerful his godfathers are. Our inquest paints a picture of a man whose past sojourn in fishy dealings does not permit him to hold any public or state office.
So, who is James Kamau Kairu?
Mr Kairu was born in Muranga five decades ago, our investigative team established. There is an ongoing EACC investigation dating way back to his tenure in Murang’a County and the Ministry of Metropolitan & Youth Ministry. As head of procurement in Murang’a, Mr Kairu is alleged to have occasioned the loss of billions of shillings in the course of establishing Muranga County Creamery, according to statements by various County members of staff, current and former.
Knowing his goose was cooked, Mr Kairu plea-bargained with investigation officers whereby he swore affidavits that betrayed and incriminated his former colleagues despite himself having been a co-partaker in the looting
In his statement to investigative agencies, Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria exonerated himself from any blame and threw the ball to his then head of procurement, James Kairu. In the course of establishing the creamery, Mr Kairu allegedly travelled to China to source the processing machine. However, the machine he identified for the county to purchase and the one that he committed the county to buy are two different items.
The county ended up with a sub-standard machine that processes a quarter of the milk volume that the county initially slated to process. Our confidential source intimated to us that some of the machines bought for the county creamery eventually ended up at Kairu’s dairy farm in Murang’a, a clear confirmation of the level of impunity that has come to characterize his life in civil service.
Knowing his goose was cooked, Mr Kairu plea-bargained with investigation officers whereby he swore affidavits that betrayed and incriminated his former colleagues despite himself having been a co-partaker in the looting. This saw the accounts of one Jane Mbuthia and her Top Image Media company frozen over a suspicious transaction of Ksh542 million paid under the tenure of Mr Kairu.
In the plea bargain, Mr Kairu accepted to stand in the dock as a *Star Witness* against Jane Mbuthia & directors of Top Image Company and where possible against Gov. Wa Iria, his former boss.
The Ksh542 million scandal has come to haunt Mr Wa Iria in his quest to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta as President in this year’s elections. EACC has written to IEBC asking Wafula Chebukati not to clear Wa Iria on integrity grounds on account of the Ksh542 million case.
Kairu’s tenure at the Ministry of Metropolitan was equally dramatic
On various occasions in the period between 2008-2013 during the Grand Coalition Government, Mr Kairu used the basement of his offices as an operation base whereby he would meet instigators about his involvement in the explosive CCTV scandal in which the government lost Ksh2.5 billion. The CCTV cameras were paid for but, never installed.
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