DPP orders arrest of Maasai Mara University VC Mary Walingo over Ksh.177M scandal

Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has ordered the arrest and prosecution of Maasai Mara University Vice Chancellor Mary Walingo over misappropriation of over Ksh.177 million belonging to the institution.

This comes nearly a year after Citizen TV exposed the grand theft of funds at the university in an explosive exposé dubbed the Mara Heist in September 2019.

Ms. Walingo is set to charged alongside four other officials of the university including Prof. Simon Kasaine Ole Seno (Deputy Vice Chancellor Finance), Prof. John Almadi Obere (Acting Deputy VC Academic and Student Affairs between 2016 and 2019), Anaclet Biket Okumu (Finance Officer) and Noor Hassan Abdi (the Vice Chancellor’s driver).

In a statement issued on Monday, the DPP said investigations had established that in the financial years between 2016- 2019 several cheques were used to irregularly withdraw funds from various Maasai Mara University accounts for personal use amounting to a sum of Ksh.177,007,754.

“…there was no justification for the withdrawal of the funds from the said accounts as there are no supporting documents for the expenditure,” said the DPP in the statement.

The DPP adds that analysis of the evidence obtained indicates that monies withdrawn by authorized finance officers at the University would be irregularly delivered to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mary Walingo through her proxies.

“Despite the University having a well-developed accounting system known as the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System and proper books of finance, there was a deliberate failure by officers in the University’s finance department to record the subject transactions/cheque withdrawals in the University’s ERP system and books of record in an attempt to hide the particular transactions from the University’s financial records,” notes the DPP.

DPP Haji says due to the unscrupulous activities of irregular withdrawal of funds without accounting for the same, the Maasai Mara University suffered a loss of approximately Ksh.177,007,754.

The five are set to face various charges under the Anti- Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and the Penal Code.