Suspended NYS official implicates former bosses

What you need to know:

  • Third company owned by a close relative of Funyula MP Paul Otuoma is said to have won a tender.

  • Sh133 million contracts were part of Sh695 million.

A suspended top official of the scandal-hit National Youth Service on Wednesday implicated his former bosses in the loss of Sh791 million.

Former Deputy Director-General Adan Harakhe told the Public Accounts Committee that former Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti and his former boss, Dr Nelson Githinji, were involved in the questionable procurement.

“Contracts worth Sh133 million were set aside for companies owned by Dr Githinji’s wife and his sister-in-law and her husband, which were to supply a range of goods, including food stuff and vector control implements,” he said.

A third company owned by a close relative of Funyula MP Paul Otuoma is also said to have won a tender.

The Sh133 million contracts were part of the Sh695 million, which was reportedly stopped before the funds could be paid to fraudulent companies.

Mr Harakhe also said he was still on a full salary despite stepping aside to pave way for investigations.

CORRUPTION SCANDALS

He also explained in vivid detail how Dr Mangiti allegedly orchestrated corruption scandals in a web of intrigues involving the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) officials and Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers. Dr Mangiti, claimed Mr Harakhe, used proxies and was at the centre of bribing officials as a cover-up.

Mr Harakhe told the committee, chaired by Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo, that the Sh791 million was stolen before he had been transferred to the youth agency from the ministry headquarters.

“I did not make any payments during the time I was the AIE (authority to incur expenditure) holder, but I did approve some of the payments,” he said.

The statement put him on a collision course with MPs, since despite insisting he did not make payments, he said he initiated part of the procurement for goods. The MPs said that made him part of the payment process.

“The people who ended up making the payments were just agents of the process you initiated as the AIE holder, otherwise no payments would have been made without you initiating it first,” said Mr Gumbo.

WAS SUSPENDED

Mr Harakhe, who together with Dr Githinji was suspended over the scandal that also claimed the career of Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, alleged some of the fraudulent deals were carried out using his stolen password, and without his knowledge.

“I did not offer my password to anyone either voluntarily or under instruction and when I realised that it had been used to make some irregular transactions, I made the report to the cybercrime department,” he said.

Balambala MP Abdikadir Aden questioned a Sh400 million payment made by Mr Harakhe, a day after he was deployed at the agency, saying he was either part of the scheme to steal public funds or he was being used by someone in government, which he denied.

MPs also questioned a Sh234 million payment he also approved using Ifmis, allegedly for buying foodstuff at the agency, with questions being raised as to where the huge amount of food would have been stored, given the astronomical figure.

He also appeared to contradict his former boss, Dr Githinji, who previously appeared before the committee and said he was the one who blew the whistle on the Sh695 million loss.

Several business people and wheeler dealers have also been implicated in the scandal.