Battle lines drawn as Jubilee MPs name Junet Mohamed as key NYS supplier

The National Youth Service (NYS) scandal has taken a new shift after a section of Jubilee legislators accused the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, and his key allies of being beneficiaries of the loot.

Led by Kikuyu Member of Parliament, Kimani Ichungwa, the legislators said that Odinga’s ally, Junet Mohamed – who is also the Suna East MP – supplied goods worth of millions of shillings to the NYS.

They also linked former Chairman of the Ministerial Tender Committee in the Ministry of Devolution, Hassan Noor, to Odinga saying that the two are close friends and that he (Noor) is a relative of Junet and hence facilitated the awarding of tenders to the Suna east MP.

The legislators alleged that Junet, through his company and proxies, illegally imported sugar, rice, milk, and biscuits among other products that he allegedly supplied to the NYS.

“It is also a notorious fact that one Junet Sheikh Nuh, also known as Junet Mohamed, who is the member of the National Assembly for Suna East, is a close associate and dear confidante of Odinga’s. He is also the ODM Director for Elections,” said the Jubilee legislators.

“Hassan Noor is married to Junet Mohammed’s sister, Hafsa Sheikh Nuh. Junet and Hafsa own two companies, Zeigham Enterprises Limited and Fahaza Limited, registered in July 2012 and July 2014 respectively.”

The Jubilee legislators further alleged that the two companies “were paid hundreds of millions of shillings by the NYS for various dubious supplies, most of which were smuggled into the country from Pakistan through the port of Kismayu, Somalia. Among them powdered milk, rice, sugar, biscuits just to name a few.”

The MPs say that Odinga, and his political organization, should “give Kenyans a break from the endless drama and propaganda on corruption and answer a number of critical questions.”

“There is evidence that Odinga has been doing his best to pass the NYS buck to the presidency whereas in fact, he is a perpetrator, accomplice, beneficiary and condoner of the heist,” added Ichungwa.

They now argue that Odinga knows much more about the scam and should come clean and explain to Kenyans before it is too late.

“There is no doubt that Odinga’s closest associates are brazen crooks and sundry criminals with their fingers in every cookie jar, including land grabbing and speculation along infrastructure corridors, extortion of foreign contractors, embezzlement of public funds, fraudulent tendering and other deplorable activities.”

“So indiscriminate is Odinga’s impunity that, for yet another time, he has robbed the Kenyan youth of rare and precious opportunities to participate in nation building.”

They went on to quote the Kazi Kwa Vijana saying that Odinga, during his tenure as Prime Minister, did nothing to stop theft of millions of shillings of tax payers money.

“Odinga must now honour Kenyans with a little respectful honesty, look them in the eye and confess that he has been taking them on a ride. He must admit that his loud protestations about corruption are nothing but distractions and cover-ups to protect the web of kleptomaniacs who serve him and his political organization.”

They now want him to record a statement with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on what he knows about graft in the country.