Nacada boss refuses to step aside

Nacada chief executive officer William Okedi has refused to step aside to pave the way for investigations over alleged malpractices that led to the loss of Sh400 million at the agency.

Yesterday, a four-hour board meeting ended in disarray after the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse chairman, Mr John Mututho, declined to support an audit report—he says he was ambushed —clearing Dr Okedi of any wrong doing. Some members walked out of the meeting.

Mr Mututho claimed his team was aware such a report would be presented at the meeting, a move he resisted, despite some board members insisting the report should be adopted.

“I cannot be intoxicated with mineral water into accepting a report whose details I am not aware of. We will defer the recommendations until I go through it with a keen eye and report to the entire board,” the Nacada chairman said after the meeting failed to continue.

Facilitate investigations

Preliminary audit reports, he said, had recommended that the former chairman, Dr Frank Njenga, be investigated while the CEO steps aside to facilitate investigations.

Mr Mututho and the chairman of the audit committee, Mr Fazul Mahamed, want Dr Okedi and his top managers including the finance officer, to step aside to allow for investigations, but some board members are opposed to the idea.

On Friday, the meeting degenerated into a verbal contest between Mr Mahamed and Dr Okedi, with the former insisting those implicated must step aside to allow for the investigations.

“We cannot conduct investigations when the CEO is in office and yet he is the one under investigations,” said Mr Mahamed.

He noted that there were fears the CEO might influence the outcome of the exercise if he continued to be in office.

There was drama when Mr Mahamed dismissed explanations by Dr Okedi that the board had recommended he stays in office as investigations continued.

“This is a blatant lie and an attempt to create wrong perceptions. The board did not vote on such a matter and what the CEO is saying is his own creation,” Mr Mahamed said.

Following the appointment of Mr Mututho as the board chairman, Dr Okedi agreed to an audit of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Fund after claims that Sh400 million had been embezzled.

However, the exercise has been resisted with allegations that Mr Mututho wants to influence the outcome of the process. He in turn claimed that a Nacada senior officer had bribed auditors to clear him of any misdeeds.

The preliminary report from the internal audit department has revealed massive loss of money amounting to millions of shillings from the fund, a situation that prompted the board to order for an audit of all the 296 districts where Nacada operates.

Meanwhile, the board has called for the reconstitution of the 12 member audit committee following allegations that at least three of them have been bribed to tinker with the report to favour the Dr Okedi. Majority of the board members are supporting the CEO.

Mr Mahamed has promised to seek audience with the Attorney-General and the Auditor-General on how to go about the exercise he says will expose the rot at the agency.

According to Mr Mututho, the embezzled funds include money collected from bar licences in the country as well as millions returned to Nacada by districts, but which cannot be accounted for.

He claims only a measly Sh10 million was collected from bar licences in Nairobi yet the county has about 30,000 liquor selling joints.