Kenya's 'Most Corrupt' Counties
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is currently investigating 67 high-profile cases involving allegations of corruption and irregular procurement in Marsabit, Mandera, Samburu, and Wajir Counties.
According to the EACC CEO, Twalib Mbarak, these cases are part of the 231 graft-related cases received and processed by the Commission in the four counties. The EACC boss recently submitted a report before the Senate Justice and Legal Affairs committee, revealing that Marsabit County has the highest number of cases at 90, followed by Samburu with 87 cases, Wajir with 32 and Mandera with 22. This development comes after Marsabit Senator Mohamed Chute requested details from the committee on the number and status of EACC inquiries into corruption and irregular procurement in the four counties.
In addition, the senator inquired about the Commission's recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the cases returned to the agency for prosecution. At present, the agency is investigating incidents of misappropriation of funds worth Sh50 million by the Department of Lands in Samburu County involving fraudulent imprest applications and submission of fake documents. The Samburu County Assembly is facing accusations of irregular recruitment to fill 23 positions, and the county government is under investigation for allegedly misappropriating public funds in the purchase of survey equipment at an inflated cost of Sh9.6 million through Tikitas Limited.
The Livestock County Executive Committee(CEC) is also being investigated for inflating the tender for the purchase of tractors from Sh2.5 million to Sh6 million, while former Governor Moses Lenolkulal is facing a conflict of interest case regarding the supply of fuel through M/S Oryx Service Station. In addition, there is an ongoing asset recovery case against Mr. Lenolkulal for assets acquired from irregular trading by the county government with Oryx.
In Marsabit, there are currently six investigations into the embezzlement of donated funds for the drilling of boreholes and tree planting, payments of Sh41.4 million for the procurement of relief food to Drescoll Limited in the financial years ended 2019 and 2020, and Sh14.4 million procurement irregularities where county officers paid for projects that were not delivered under the Kenya Urban Support Programme funded by World Bank. The awarding of a Sh20 million relief food supply tender to Masanach Construction Limited, a Sh20 million excavation tender for a water pan to M/S Surupa Investment Limited, and the questionable award of a tender for motor vehicle insurance to Takaful Insurance Company during the financial years ending in June 2017 and 2018 are all under investigation.
Additionally, former Mandera County Governor Ali Roba is being investigated for allegedly hiring 47 officers without the involvement of the County Public Service Board. The county government's use of COVID-19 funds in the financial year ending in June 2020 is also being scrutinized by the EACC for procurement irregularities.