Ole Ntimama’s daughter among 11 summoned over Ksh.29B Itare dam scandal

Eleven people are expected to appear before detectives at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for questioning over the Ksh.29 billion Itare Dam project.

Among the 11 are former board members of the Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency as well as Ministry of Water and Sanitation officials.

The summons come barely a fortnight after Water Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui was questioned for hours on end over the scam.

Lydia Ntimama, daughter of the late Cabinet Minister William Ole Ntimama and who once served as a board member of the Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency, is among those expected at the DCI headquarters.

Others are former board members; Chesaina Bartonjo, Christine Ndoigo, David Kinuthia, Julius Lamaoni, Nemuel Machuki, Ewoi Lochom and Samuel Kaaleng.

Also on the summon letter dated December 9, 2019 are Eng. FK Kyengo, Barrack Amolo and David Yatich who serve in different capacities in the Ministry of Water and Sanitation.

Itare dam was supposed to yield 100,000 cubic metres of water per day to serve more than 800,000 residents.

Taxpayers have paid Ksh.11 billion for the project, which stalled at just 30 per cent completion.

Detectives are expected to widen their investigations to the United Kingdom, South Africa and Italy to understand how the sum was paid.

Meanwhile, CMC di Ravenna, the Italian company that was awarded the tender for the construction of the dam and which filed for bankruptcy, wants to wind up its operations in Kenya.