Thousands of victims of the Ekeza Sacco, Gakuyo Investment club and Gakuyo real estate now want the founder of the three entities Bishop David Gakuyo barred from the 2022 polls over the Ksh1.5 billion scandal.
The victims who were never compensated despite an out of court agreement now want the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to stop Bishop Gakuyo from vying in the 2022 elections. The controversial Bishop has already declared his bid for the Thika Town parliamentary seat on a Jubilee Party ticket.
On November 21, 2020, Ekeza Sacco released a statement noting that over 4,000 customers with shares worth less than Ksh50,000 had received back their refunds.
The Sacco had started refunding members in phases. The refund process commenced in January 2020 and the plan was to pay 1,500 members in the first phase and it involved those who had saved Ksh5,000 downwards.
The second phase was for members he owed Ksh20,000 to Ksh50,000. Investors who were demanding up to Ksh200,000 would be refunded later on.
The controversial televangelist, who founded Ekeza Sacco was forced to surrender to the police after accusations of defrauding members money amounting to around Ksh1.5 Billion.
The scandal has made headlines in the country for some considerable time now with members of the Sacco coming out to demonstrate against the alleged embezzlement of their money in separate incidents.
The money was apparently transferred from the Sacco accounts to the personal account of the bishop for his personal use.
In 2018, the government revoked the license of the Sacco following complaints by the members that it was sharing financial accounts with the Gakuyo Real Estate Company.
One of the victims of this saga is Mr. James Mwangi, a resident of Nairobi.“After three years of hard work, it was time for me to start saving as my wife was 2 months pregnant. I wanted to be as prepared as possible since a child comes with a lot of responsibilities. I decided to tell my mother, who happens to be very educated on some of the saccos I could use to save my money. Although she had a lot of saccos in mind, I decided to settle on Ekeza sacco. I would later discover that was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made’’. Mr. Mwangi said.
After two weeks of unsuccessful money withdrawal attempts from the sacco, Mwangi then received news of what had transpired in the company. “ I could not eat for days thinking of the lost money and how my daughter would be welcomed by her daddys’ empty hands. I decided not to tell my wife due to her condition, hoping that things would be soon resolved. This was just but wishes. Months down the line and no serious actions have been taken apart from the DCI requesting us to record statements at the Criminal Investigations headquarters located on the Kiambu road’’.
A total of Ksh1.5 billion had gone missing from the company, all being transferred into private accounts of Bishop Gakuyo. It was later discovered that Bishop Gakuyo used a total of Ksh 99 million to purchase a house worth Ksh 200 million in Gigiri, Nyari estate which initially belonged to the former Senator of Machakos Johnson Muthama. He then used Ksh 128 million to purchase land for Gakuyo real estate at Mavoko town and Mitubiri/Wempa in Muranga, whose total cost price was Ksh 328 million.
The victims have now regrouped and they want the EACC to take action and force the Bishop to compensate all the victims of the scam and also have him prosecuted and barred from holding any public office.
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