News
KACC report: Charge 8 over schools scandal
Posted Tuesday, February 9 2010 at 20:00
In Summary
- Graft body asks Wako to prosecute top education officials for loss of Sh103m
Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission wants eight top officials of the Education ministry prosecuted over the loss of Sh103 million.
KACC forwarded the files to Attorney-General Amos Wako, who must approve prosecutions, on Tues afternoon, but officials said they would be handed over soon.
Investigators said the officials wasted public money on fictitious workshops, attended by ghost participants.
Wanton fraud
The eight account for the loss of only Sh34 million but KACC sources said they would investigate the entire free primary education programme.
And although the amounts are small, detectives capture a mindset of such wanton fraud, falsification of documents and corruption, raising questions about accountability of funds in government.
According to a status report, titled “Investigation into Embezzlement of Sh103 Million of the World Bank-funded Kenya Education Sector Support Project (Kessp)”, a copy of which the Daily Nation has seen, the charges recommended will include fraudulent acquisition of public property, theft, and abuse of office, among others.
The Nation is withholding the identities of the officers KACC wants charged to protect their reputation. The AG is not bound by the recommendations of KACC and may decide not to charge them.
The investigation is based on an audit by Treasury and focuses on 434 payments to 21 officials of the Education ministry.
The graft team has been investigating the fraud, which has caused a storm of protest, for two months.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whose job is to supervise government ministries, has asked Education minister Sam Ongeri and permanent secretary Karega Mutahi to step aside to allow for investigations.
Prof Ongeri and Prof Mutahi have defended themselves, saying the fraud involved imprests by individual officers and therefore, there was no need for them to step aside.
Fifty officials of the ministry have been suspended in the scandal, which caused the US and Britain to suspended Sh1.3 billion in aid.
On Tuesday, the anti-corruption commission source said more officers could be charged.
Set me free
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Submitted by jdagoo24Posted February 10, 2010 08:06 PM
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Submitted by wuod_aketch
Kibaki has been the worst president Kenya ever had. The man has spent most of his time fighting Kenyans indirectly through the encouragement of corruption. His inner circle is money hungry. I think that these affairs revealed almost daily must be more than irritating the nerves of many Kenyans within and in the diaspora.
Posted February 10, 2010 06:37 PM -
Submitted by vgogero
Will the AG give any consent to prosecute or he will just study files and declare that there is no sufficient evidence to sustain a charge .No wonder the US Government is not amused with an AG who sees no evil ,hears no evil and speaks no evil
Posted February 10, 2010 05:47 PM -
Submitted by mzeemoja
Its time to nail the culprits and stop the blame game
Posted February 10, 2010 05:47 PM -
Submitted by okamala
Hope the eight KACC is identified are not only "small fish" 8 billion cannot be eaten by small fish alone - they dont have the capacity, and there is no way the "big fish" would have let them
Posted February 10, 2010 03:40 PM
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8 big fish...4 ODM and 4 PNU. all in the same pond protecting each other.....