NYS suspends all payments in wake of graft claims

Public Service CS Margaret Kobia and her Chief Administrative Secretary Rachel Shebesh have defended themselves against the latest corruption claims at the National Youth Service.

Appearing before the Labour Committee on Thursday, Prof. Kobia said they were not aware about the graft allegations and only heard it from recent media reports.

The House team inquired as to why NYS is now offering public transport services through its buses without signing any formal agreement with the Nairobi County Government.

According to the lawmakers, the buses that are worth an estimated Ksh.500million, are a waste of taxpayers money because the service is not their the mandate.

On Thursday, the committee directed the ministry to suspend all PSV operations until the allegations of graft at NYS are cleared.

In her response, Prof. Kobia noted that NYS has also halted all payments in the wake of reports of non-existent companies and suppliers.

Apparently, her ministry has unpaid bills from 2008 that amount to Ksh.9.8 billion.

When asked to produce the list of companies that the ministry claims to be owing money, Prof Kobia was at a loss only indicating that she would organize for it to be brought before the meeting was over.