Water chief sent home as probe starts

The chief executive officer of a water services board at the centre of mismanagement and corruption allegations has been suspended and a fresh financial audit of the organisation ordered.

The action against Mr Joseph Nzesya of the Kitui-based Tanathi Water Services Board came a day after the Nation published findings of a regulatory agency report which documented the mismanagement.

On Monday, Water and Irrigation permanent secretary David Stower sent Mr Nzesya on compulsory leave and appointed Mr Nicholas Muthui to replace him in an acting capacity pending the outcome of the investigations.

Until his appointment, Mr Muthui was a section head at the National Irrigation Board.

Tanathi Water Services Board chairman Geoffrey Parsaoti confirmed the developments and told the Nation that a crisis full board meeting would convene on Wednesday in Kitui to discuss the audit report by the Water Services Regulatory Board (Wasreb) which implicated some officials in theft of public funds.

“We’ve a new chief executive, Mr Nicholas Muthui, appointed in an acting capacity,” he said.

The chairman added that the board meeting would also discuss the action to be taken against other officers implicated, according to the law.

However, Mr Nzesya rubbished the Wasreb audit report saying it was malicious propaganda engineered by some former ministry officials who had been sacked by minister Charity Ngilu.

“We have had routine audits by the Auditor General and no queries were raised,” Mr Nzesya said adding he had suspended the procurement officers involved in inflating prices and that there were records to that effect.

The matter is also being investigated by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission whose detectives questioned several board officials last week on the audit queries raised by the Wasreb report.

Dr Stower asked for fresh investigations in a letter to the PS in the Prime Minister’s office, Dr Mohamed Isahakia.

The audit will be undertaken by the Efficiency Monitoring Unit and the Inspector General, State Corporations.

The two institutions, he added, “have mandate” to conduct the independent review. Both are based in the Office of the Prime Minister.

“The report of the findings should then be forwarded to this ministry for appropriate action,” he wrote. The letter is also copied to Finance PS Joseph Kinyua.

Earlier, there appeared to be a tug of war between Mr Kinyua and Dr Stower over which agency should lead the audit after the Treasury PS ordered that it be done by the Internal Auditor at the Finance ministry.

Mr Kinyua wrote to his Water ministry counterpart explaining that his ministry had the legal capacity to carry out the audit.

“I wish to clarify that Treasury has mandate under the Government Financial Management Act 2004 to conduct audit reviews of operating systems within ministries and public agencies funded from the exchequer,” he said in his letter.

On Monday, Dr Stower said the suspension of Mr Nzesya would stay until EMU and the Inspector of State Corporations complete the audit before a substantive decision was taken.

“I have asked the CEO to hand over to Mr Muthui in the meantime as the two State institutions carry out the audit,” he said.

Mr Nzesya’s suspension follows the publication of the Wasreb inspection report dated March 2010 that alleges mismanagement and rampant corruption.

The report recommends to all water boards across the country to set up sound controls on usage of funds, adherence to public procurement guidelines as well as corporate governance.

Following the report, a network of lobby groups in the water and sanitation sector, Kewasnet, wrote to Dr Stower and Mrs Ngilu asking for clarifications about what it described as “governance challenges” for the water sector.

The organisation’s secretary general, Mr Stephen Mutoro, said the investigations should be extended to all other water boards across the country because they could be facing similar challenges.

Tanathi Water Services Board is one of the eight similar institutions established in the water sector across the country in efforts to improve the quality of water and service delivery to Kenyans.

It operates in 32 districts in the Eastern Province.

On Monday, Dr Stower said corrupt officials would not be tolerated. “The ministry’s activities are undertaken in line with government’s policy of zero tolerance to corruption and this applies to all State corporations under this ministry,” the PS said.

“Transparency and accountability are therefore matters that cannot be compromised and where there are confirmed cases of graft and corruption, firm and swift action is taken.”

The drama comes barely two weeks after Mrs Ngilu publicly disagreed with assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri on the progress of construction of Sh1.5 billion Umaa Dam in Kitui County being supervised by Mr Nzesya’s Tanathi board.

Mrs Ngilu praised the contractor for being on schedule and having accomplished 67 per cent of the construction works while Mr Kiunjuri complained to the press that very little had been done.

The two were inspecting water projects in the area.