Sh160 million lost in Embu County graft, county executive says

More than Sh160 million is said to have been lost in a racket involving the irregular procurement of 12,000 litre water tanks for institutions and 17,000 water pipes in Embu County.

According to the County Executive Committee Member in charge of Lands, Water, Environment and Natural resources Josephat Kithumbu, records indicated that 602 public institutions including schools, polytechnics and health centres had been supplied with water tanks worth Ksh10 million, but there was no evidence on the ground that the tanks were delivered.

Speaking when he appeared before a County Assembly Ad Hoc committee that is investigating stalled water projects and malpractices in the water docket, Kithumbu revealed that there were no inspection reports from the county team.

The team is said to have been tasked with checking the quality of the tanks and acceptance letters from heads of institutions earmarked for supply of tanks or delivery notes from the supplier.

The CEC member also cast doubts on assertions that every public institution in Embu County had received a 12,000 litre water tank.

In his statement, he added that the Water Chief Officer Stephen Kinyua had disappeared from office for the last one week without leave of absence from duty when investigations into the project commenced.

“I wonder why the beneficiary list for the water tanks was changed to include market centres and towns, yet there was nobody to receive the tanks on behalf of the urban centres,” said Kithumbu.

In addition, Kithumbu claimed he was transferred from the water docket to Education in December 2014 when the project was almost starting and reinstated in September 2015 after money for the project was consumed.

Meanwhile, Kiambere MCA Martin Mwangi who chaired the Ad Hoc committee questioned the rationale of supplying different brands of water tanks with differing dimensions, with Kithimbu stating the source of the tanks was suspect saying the county government had requisitioned for tanks with uniform dimensions from one manufacturer.

Mwangi noted that since the investigations into the scam began in October, there had been a last minute rush to deliver tanks to institutions that had not received their consignments.

He alleged that the rush was meant to erase evidence on the embezzlement of money meant for supply of the tanks.

The MCA stated that the county could have lost a further Ksh80 Million that had been set aside in the 2013-2014 Financial Year for the supply of 17,000 water pipes as three years down the line, the water piping projects had not taken off and the pipes had not been supplied.

Kithumbu candidly told the committee that he could not answer to the disappearance of funds during the period he was out of the Water docket and wants the officers who were in charge to be held squarely responsible for any corrupt dealings that may have led to loss of taxpayers’ funds.

Elsewhere, the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) is yet to unravel the circumstances under which more than Sh7 million disappeared in a bungled health scheme for Kisii Members of the County Assembly.

The EACC officers said they had been sifting through numerous files to get to the bottom of the scam.

An EACC officer, Daniel Agar, said the controversial health insurance was among several corruption cases that were being investigated.

Speaking to Citizen Digital Agar said that the officials implicated the scandal would be prosecuted.

However, a report by the Kisii County Assembly’s Legal and Justice Committee in March faulted the procedures used in procuring health insurance services.