Firm wanted more money from NYS, PS reveals
Josephine Kabura appears in a Nairobi court on June 24, 2016 regarding a case in which she is charged with money laundering arising from the theft of money from the National Youth Service (NYS). Mr Alex Ngugi, a senior auditor in the Devolution ministry was on July 12, 2016 taken to task by MPs for failure to flag the theft of more than Sh1.6 billion at the NYS. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Saitoti Torome, the Planning PS, told the Public Accounts Committee that the invoice was rejected because the company is under investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
A company that was among those alleged to have been paid millions illegally in the National Youth Service scandal tried to get paid more earlier this year, raising the possibility that more funds could have been lost through other payments.
Out of the Box Solutions Ltd presented an invoice for Sh78 million just after new principal secretaries took over at the Devolution and Planning ministry, under which the NYS fell.
Saitoti Torome, the Planning PS, told the Public Accounts Committee that the invoice was rejected because the company is under investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
The company was given a Sh302 million contract for publicity and by the time the NYS was undergoing a special audit, it had been paid Sh90 million.
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It has been linked to a former radio presenter and her former boss.
“We have learnt a lot and so many things came. Maybe they thought they could take advantage of the new people,” said Mr Torome.
But his answers raised more queries as he said some payments were made to companies owed by the NYS.
The NYS was placed under the Public Service and Youth Affairs ministry when the Presidency reorganised the departments and issued an Executive Order on May 16, about four months after Mr Torome took charge, with the PS unable to recall clearly the number and nature of payments to NYS-related companies he handled when he was temporarily in charge.
The MPs at some point considered declaring him a hostile witness, with Balambala MP Abdikadir Omar Aden warning him: “Even if you bought one potato for NYS at that time, you had better tell us now.”
Peter Mwita, the chief finance officer at the ministry, said that when Lillian Omollo was named the PS for Youth, she appointed a special committee to scrutinise Sh4 billion the NYS owed suppliers.
