Mary Ekai admits embezzling taxpayers' money, offers to repay

A Samburu County official risks being impeached by the county assembly after admitting that she misappropriated public funds and flouted procurement laws.

Mary Ekai, the County Executive Committee member in charge of the health and sanitation department, has also admitted extending her stay in Israel for two days on taxpayers’ money.

Ms Ekai, who appeared before an assembly committee for grilling on Wednesday, promised to return taxpayer money paid into her account before she went for an educational trip to Israel two weeks ago, following demands by some Samburu ward representatives.

A total of Sh1.3 Million was deposited into her account as per diem allowance for 14 days.

The county official is said to have spent more than Sh 3.1 million on foreign trips within three weeks at the expense of taxpayers. 

She was grilled by the ad-hoc committee of the Samburu County Assembly set up to investigate the matter among other issues.

SOLO TRIP TO ITALY

Three weeks ago, Ms Ekai made a solo trip to Italy for a week and allegedly spent Sh1.2 million. The purpose of the visit was to tour various Italian hospitals for benchmarking.

She later proceeded directly to Israel to pursue a two-week course on health systems management at the Galilee International Management Institute. She allegedly spent Sh 1.9 million on this trip.

The same course is offered in Kenya by Amref Health Africa for Sh71,000.

According to the Public Finance Act, per diem allowances are not supposed to be paid to a government official who is under full-board accommodation.

Ms Ekai went to the Galilee Institute with David Onchonga, an officer from her office, who was not cleared by the county government for the trip, as County Secretary Stephen Letinina had cited lack of funds to support his travel.

It emerged before the committee, led by nominated MCA Modesta Lalaikipian, that Mr Onchonga, a public health officer at Samburu County Referral Hospital and the malaria coordinator in Samburu County, travelled to Israel after taking a two-week leave from his office with the intention of taking his mother for specialised treatment in India.

FACEBOOK POST

His presence in Israel was discovered after he posted on Facebook that he was in that country.

The committee wanted to know why Ms Ekai was always accompanied on various trips and training sessions by Mr Onchonga.

According to the committee, the two had had another training at Strathmore University a week before she travelled to Italy.

Ms Ekai told the committee that she did not know if the accountant from her department had deposited the money in her account.

She agreed with the committee that it was illegal for a public officer to receive per diem allowances if their full accommodation had been paid for.

“If money meant for my allowances was deposited in my account, I don’t know, because I have not checked my balance since I came back from Israel.

"If the said Sh1.3 million is in my account, then I am more than willing to return it to Samburu County, because its mwananchi’s money,” she said.

Her statement prompted the committee to ask whether she was using a parallel account for her official transactions, which she denied.

Ms Ekai also admitted that she had flouted procurement laws, leading to the loss of millions of shillings from the health department.

BACK DOOR TRANSACTIONS

The committee found out that Sh1.2 million was paid illegally to Bhogals Garage in Nakuru under her orders to repair her official car without following procurement procedures.

She admitted making "back-door transactions" even after the county declined to pay for the repairs upon receiving an invoice from the company.

A total of Sh118,000 had been spent earlier on replacing and repairing bolts on the same vehicle a month before it was taken back to the same garage.

Ms Ekai also faces allegations of spending Sh 2.8 million in county cash to clear a freight of medical equipment from the Mombasa port.

The items are not being used as they have no spare parts and an expert to operate them.

The allegations facing the officer have sparked outrage among Samburu residents.

The committee will be retreating today to file a report on Ms Ekai's conduct.