Man blames wife’s death on stress from unpaid-for supplies she made to NYS

Samuel Momanyi during an interview in Nairobi on May 19, 2018. He says his wife died following complications arising from failure to be paid by the NYS after she supplied goods. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Then the expansion of NYS to accommodate 20,000 recruits was initiated.

  • Mr Momanyi says he borrowed Sh700,000 from friends and supplied tents and tanks as part of the Kibera slum upgrading programme.

  • The expanded NYS meant there was more work for Mrs Momanyi and other suppliers.

Samuel Momanyi stares forlornly into the horizon as he tries to get the right words to describe his life since his wife Isabellah Momanyi died on October 25 last year.

She died as a result of hypertension complications, diabetes and kidney failure – health issues whose origins he blames on his wife doing business with the National Youth Service (NYS).

Mrs Momanyi was a “dedicated and dependable” supplier of NYS for many years since the 1990s, the widower narrates. He introduced her to the supplies business after they married in 1988 and, together, they worked hard to achieve several milestones. But things went from bad to worse in recent years.

As he shares with the Nation what his family has gone through, Mr Momanyi says that it is only his Catholic faith that has kept him strong.

“I wanted her to do the businesses on her own for the sake of the family. She understood my point and she grew the business,” says Mr Momanyi, who explains why he opted not to run a joint business with his wife. 

GREAT PROMISE

Then came the Jubilee government in 2013. There was great promise with the “digital government” and preferential tenders for women, youth and people with disabilities.  

Then the expansion of NYS to accommodate 20,000 recruits was initiated. NYS had a new motto, new uniforms and an expanded mandate. Television stations were bombarded with advertisements of a new era. The government had finally found a solution to the youth unemployment problem. The NYS budget suddenly shot up five-fold to a staggering Sh25 billion — no questions asked by MPs.

Mrs Momanyi was a supplier of foodstuffs and other related materials. She encouraged her husband to join in the trade. It was a decision they would come to rue years later.

Mr Momanyi says he borrowed Sh700,000 from friends and supplied tents and tanks as part of the Kibera slum upgrading programme. That was in 2013 and, to date, he is yet to be paid the Sh900,000 NYS owes him.

QUITE DEPRESSED

“My friends have been pressing me to repay them but I have no money. They have been seeing stories in the media about NYS and they somehow now understand but our friendship is quite depressed,” he says.

The expanded NYS meant there was more work for Mrs Momanyi and other suppliers. Soon NYS procurement officials dispensed with paper work.

“They would tell you that they are under pressure to deliver a certain project and that one was required to deliver particular goods within a short time. That meant that crucial documents in the procurement process were not issued. All one had was a delivery note stating that indeed you supplied. The suppliers did not suspect anything— after all they had good relationship with NYS,” recalls Mr Momanyi.

Mrs Momanyi and other suppliers diligently did their work as asked by NYS officials. The orders came fast and furious but payments were rarely, if ever, made. To sustain the business, Mr Momanyi resorted to taking bank over drafts given her good track record. But by 2014 banks started taking a step back as the payments became more infrequent.

To sustain the supplies, she now started borrowing from friends. Soon she reached the end of the tether. In 2015, the first NYS scandal broke out and all payments were stopped.

FALSE HOPE

By the time the payments commenced, she was already playing cat-and-mouse games with her creditors.

“NYS officials had a sweet tongue, they kept telling us that they are to pay her in the next two weeks. She would then take the ‘good news’ to her friends who she owed money and also to the banks.  No one could believe a senior government official would lie. They kept us selling us hope; it was false hope,” he says.

Her health problems soon started. “At first she developed hypertension. She was soon diagnosed with diabetes. Before long she had kidney failures. The loans from the banks and friends had taken a toll on her.

My wife was a healthy person before the loans became a problem. I blame NYS for the death of my wife,” he says. He says the most painful part of the NYS ordeal was that his wife’s paperwork was audited three times and found suitable to be paid but the crucial payments never came.

“After promising to pay every month they would suddenly say that they are evaluating and verifying what to pay and what not to pay, after every verification process her company would be classified as “payable”. Another round of promises would start,” he recalls.

PAY SCHOOL FEES

In their happier times, the Momanyis had taken in four orphans who they were educating, in addition to their two grown sons.  Mr Momanyi now is struggling to pay school fees for the four, three of whom are in schools in Machakos and another is in Kisii.

Their two sons, 26 and 27 years are helping their father put his life in order as he comes to terms with the loss of his wife.

Mr Momanyi frequently visits Vincentian retreat centre in Lavington for prayers. 

“All I want is NYS to pay what we supplied. Today I can’t even access my wife’s accounts because we are still in the process of acquiring letters of administration,” he says.