The family of colonial paramount chief Kibor arap Talai wants Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi arrested and charged with contempt of court after he allegedly started fencing off a section of 2,000-acre land belonging to the family.
The aggrieved family says the legislator had gone ahead with the fencing in defiance of an active High Court order stopping him from engaging in any activity on the disputed property.
Talai, who was the Uasin Gishu Ford Kenya branch chairman, died in 2012 aged 95.
Alexander Jaoko, a lawyer representing the family told an Eldoret Court that Sudi is using his influence to forcibly acquire a section of Sh3.5 billion estate, despite the existence of caveat pending property succession disputes.
Jaoko was referring to a case where six family members of the former paramount chief have been charged with the destruction of property in a land that had allegedly been irregularly acquired by the lawmaker through the ex-chef’s daughter-in-law.
In the case, the paramount chief’s daughter-in-law Eunice Talai who is accused of working in cohorts with the MP accused her in-laws of destroying her property worth Sh600,000.
Property damage
Her in-laws have accused her of illegally selling to the MP a section of family property without the knowledge and consent of estate administrator Nancy Talai.
On Monday, six family members of the Talai family, among them Nancy, were charged with malicious damage of property contrary to section 339 of penal code.
The court heard that Nancy Talai, Margret Talai, Lydia Talai, Simon Talai, Philemon Kiptoo and Collins Talai on March 22, 2023, on land parcel no 7991/Kesses at Moi University area, unlawfully damaged the fencing poles and barbed wire all valued at Sh674,375 property of Eunice Talai.
The accused persons denied the charge and were each released on Sh100,000 bond with an alternative cash bail of Sh50,000.
Efforts to deny them bond were thwarted by the court with the presiding magistrate Christine Menya ruling in their favour.
Pre-bail reports
The prosecution had objected to their release on bond claiming that the environment on the ground was hostile and that if they were released on bond, there was a likelihood of attacks.
However, Menya rejected the application by the prosecution since there was no probation report in court to support the claims by the State counsel Jamlek Murithi.
In her ruling, Menya noted that the majority of the accused were elderly women and it was not right to continue detaining them at Eldoret GK Women Remand Prison due to the failure of probation officers to present in court their report in relation to the case as earlier directed.
“It is unfortunate that this court had directed probation officers to present in court pre-bail reports today but they have failed with no proper explanation. Due to the age of some of the accused, this court has released all of them on bond,” ruled the magistrate.
She directed the matter to be mentioned on April 12 before the Chief Magistrate.
The defense lawyer said the matter before the court emanated from a civil case where the High Court had restrained the Kapseret MP from interfering with the property.
In the restraining orders, the Eldoret Land and Environment Court directed that each of the beneficiaries of the multi-billion shillings estate will continue to occupy the land they occupied as of the date of the former chief’s death.
Not for sale
The case was filed as case number 19 of 2020 with Nancy Talai as the first plaintiff, Joshua Talai as the second plaintiff and Sudi as the defendant.
The children of the paramount chief’s first wife, the late Tapyatin Talai, have accused Sudi of trying to grab their land situated near Moi University.
In March 2020, Sudi arrived at the disputed land accompanied by a group of youths, who removed “not for sale” signposts on the farm.
The property administrator Nancy Talai has demanded the MP present in court ownership documents of the disputed property.
“Let the MP who wants to grab our family property present in court documents that show he genuinely bought the land. As a family, we are not aware of any transaction where Sudi bought land,” she said outside Eldoret Prison after she was bailed out on Monday.
However, the MP’s lawyer Richard Cheruiyot claimed that Sudi had entered into an agreement with Eunice Talai to lease the land and in turn settle debts as well as pay school fees for her children.
The lawyer indicated that Eunice had agreed that when the succession case is concluded, she would sell the land for the amount the MP would have spent on her.
Eunice has confirmed entering an agreement with the MP.
She said the MP would lease the 30 acre-piece for ten years and that she would sell to him a portion to recover the money he spends on her family.
A parliamentary committee has ordered the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife to stop the completion and construction of the multi-billion Ronald Ngala Utalii college until a probe it has initiated is finalized.
The National Assembly Departmental committee on Tourism and Wildlife wants the National Treasury to provide a clear roadmap on how it will finance the project as well as clear the pending bills which include penalties arising from delayed payment and lack of funding on time.
The first phase of the project, funded by the State through the Tourism Fund, includes administration and tuition blocks, hostels, staff quarters, and a dining hall.
The Tourism Fund is seeking Ksh3.3 billion shillings to complete the construction of the facility which includes clearing pending works of Ksh1.2 billion, operation of the project (furniture sh. 215 million shillings and Services Ksh433 million shillings) and pending bill of sh. 1.5 billion shillings.
The project which started as a Vision 2030 project was earmarked to be completed in 2018 at 4.9 billion shillings but is now scheduled to consume up to 11 billion shillings once completed, as of February 2023 and is 77.74 per cent complete.
A special audit by the Office of the Auditor General on the circumstances that led to the escalation of the project from its original Sh1.9 billion cost to Sh8.9 billion before it was scaled down to Sh4.9 billion.
The contract for the main works was awarded to the third lowest pre-qualified bidder, Mulji Devraj and Brothers Ltd at Sh8.96 billion and signed on May 14, 2013.
Addressing a press conference on Monday after touring the facility accompanied by Tourism Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa and officials of Tourism Fund, Maara MP Kareke Mbiuki, who chairs the committee, said the national government must make up its mind on whether the project, remains stalled and continues to accrue interest and penalties, or money is allocated to complete the project.
Mbiuki directed the ministry not to allocate any monies for purposes of its completion or settling pending bills as well as penalties, until such a time the committee is seized with the matter, makes a report to be tabled in parliament proposing a funding formula, and a report on the implementation of the project.
“So, for the time being, don’t dare appropriate or allocate any amount to this project, not until, we have a serious discussion with President William Ruto’s administration to agree on a way forward. Let pending bills stay as they are but don’t touch even a coin within the sector, but the other campaigns within the tourism sector can proceed as scheduled, but as Ronald Ngala Utalii college, allow us almost two weeks or one month as we work on the rescue program,” he said, adding that his committee will also be in serious consultation with the ministry.
The Maara legislator lamented that it was unfair for the National Treasury not to finance the institution, which will complement the Kenya Utalii College in Nairobi, offer maritime courses as well as contribute to the promotion of tourism.
“We don’t want the project to be left to the Tourism Fund and Tourism Promotion Fund because they cannot raise the monies owned to the contractor, consultants, and charges as well penalties that have already been accrued due to defaulting by the state,” he held.
According to Mbiuki, the ministry of tourism and its state agencies cannot be left to finance the remainder because they have other obligations to meet like allocating resources to Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), Kenyatta Utalii College among others.
He said his committee will be engaging the National Treasury to ensure that the project is allocated monies for its completion.
“We want the National Treasury to come and commit to allocating funds to this project because in the supplementary budget, there was zero allocation and in the Budget Policy Statement, the allocation is still nil, once monies are allocated it will supplement what you (ministry) have already assigned to the project,” he held.
Tourism Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa disagreed with the committee’s decision asking it reconsiders its decision to stall the project as money has already been put into it saying the only solution is to complete it.
“I think the objective should be one. How it should be completed as well as thinking ways of raising money for the project especially if there is a way stakeholders can all together reach out to the National Treasury to also either put it as an emergency to finish the project once and for all,” said Ololtuaa.
While agreeing on the project to be stalled, Nominated MP Abubakar Talib Ahmed, who is a member of the committee said there ought to be serious interrogation by the committee as the project had all characteristics of a white elephant. “This is a white elephant. The committee should have a serious consultation interrogation of the project, as you advised Kenya Tourism Board and Tourism Fund not to put a single shilling into the project until we get to the bottom of it,” said Abubakar.
Other committee members include Wanjiku John Njuguna (Kiambaa), Kilel Richard (Bomet East), Ruku Geoffrey Kiringa (Mbeere South), Chebor Paul Kibet (Rongai), Shake Mbogho Peter (Voi), Mugabe Innocent Maino (Likuyani), Abdi Khamis Chome (Voi), Obo Ruweida Mohamed (Lamu East), and Bedzimba Rashid Juma (Kisauni).
The committee is on a five-day coast region inspection visit to flagship projects with the Ministry of Wildlife, Tourism, and Heritage, its departments, and agencies under its purview.
A local newspaper has reported that David Mwangi, the current Tourism Fund CEO, used the former tourism CS Najib Balala to stage a coup and Kebs the plum job.
According to the report, Mwangi used Mahendra Halai, owner of MuljiDevraj and Brothers Ltd a firm that was involved in the controversial construction of Ronald Ngala Utalii College. The powerful family wanted to have a friendly CEO at the helm of Tourism Fund “to facilitate dubious payments” the paper notes.
To effect the plan, the then fund’s CEO Joseph Cherutoi and the then director of corporate affairs Eric Kiplagat were to be sacrificed. They were reportedly forced to resign by the then board of trustees chairman Alfonse Kioko who had since been replaced at the board. Ruto revoked his appointment.
The staff now want Samson Kipkoech who was recently appointed to head the board by Ruto to investigate and unearth to real issues behind the exit of the two.
It is imperative to note that Balala and Mwangi babes feature prominently into the ongoing probe of irregular payments in the acquisition of Kenya Utalii College, Mwangi served as an accountant at the institution.
The college was initiated in 2007 under the regime of President Mwai Kibaki but stalled after the committee and Ethics and Anti-Corruption commission (EACC) raised concern over increased cost of construction.
In 2021, the then Tourism CS Najib Balala appointed a task force to look into the mandate of Kenya Utalii College, sustainability of its operations as well as financing and sources of the funds.
The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee (PIC) ordered the Office of the Auditor General to conduct a special audit on the circumstances that led to the escalation of the project from its original Sh1.9 billion cost to Sh8.9 billion before it was scaled down to Sh4.9 billion.
The contract for the main works was awarded to the third lowest pre-qualified bidder, Mulji Devraj and Brothers Ltd at Sh8.96 billion and signed on May 14, 2013.
The irregular transfer of the project to Tourism Fund was done by Balala in a Gazette Notice dated April 9 2019, in what is believed to creating an avenue to fleece the fund.
The Asian family were reportedly uncomfortable with the management of Cherutoi and it’s why they wanted a friendlier CEO like Mwangi to execute their plot. The family is also said to have contributed fairly to the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Azimio leader Raila Odinga.
Cherutoi had reportedly questioned why despite having the third lowest bid of Sh8,961,370,998, Mulji Devraj and brothers were favored. This got Balala agitated.
Since he was named the CEO, Mwangi has reportedly made a number of changes in the management targeting those who were sympathetic to his predecessor. The report says they Mwangi is worried after managers started questioning why he was picked as the CEO from a regional office in Mombasa. Further, he is said to be at war with almost all the managers mostly based in the procurement department. They accuse him of witch-hunt, tailoring tendering processes and micromanaging happenings at the troubled Tourism Fund.
Project stopped
Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee has ordered the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife to stop the completion and construction of the multi-billion Ronald Ngala Utalii college until a probe it has initiated is finalized.
The National Assembly Departmental committee on Tourism and Wildlife wants the National Treasury to provide a clear roadmap on how it will finance the project as well as clear the pending bills which include penalties arising from delayed payment and lack of funding on time.
The first phase of the project, funded by the State through the Tourism Fund, includes administration and tuition blocks, hostels, staff quarters, and a dining hall.
The Tourism Fund is seeking Ksh3.3 billion shillings to complete the construction of the facility which includes clearing pending works of Ksh1.2 billion, operation of the project (furniture sh. 215 million shillings and Services Ksh433 million shillings) and pending bill of sh. 1.5 billion shillings.
The project which started as a Vision 2030 project was earmarked to be completed in 2018 at 4.9 billion shillings but is now scheduled to consume up to 11 billion shillings once completed, as of February 2023 and is 77.74 per cent complete.
A special audit by the Office of the Auditor General on the circumstances that led to the escalation of the project from its original Sh1.9 billion cost to Sh8.9 billion before it was scaled down to Sh4.9 billion.
While agreeing on the project to be stalled, Nominated MP Abubakar Talib Ahmed, who is a member of the committee said there ought to be serious interrogation by the committee as the project had all characteristics of a white elephant. “This is a white elephant. The committee should have a serious consultation interrogation of the project, as you advised Kenya Tourism Board and Tourism Fund not to put a single shilling into the project until we get to the bottom of it,” said Abubakar.
Lawsuit
In July 2022, human rights lobby groups filed a case seeking to block the handing over of Ronald Ngala Utalii College in Kilifi to the government over alleged corruption in its construction.
In their petition at the High Court in Mombasa, the activists claim building the college was initially budgeted for Sh2 billion but that cost had risen suspiciously to Sh9 billion.
They sued the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife, Tourism Fund, Mulji Devraj & Brothers Ltd, Baseline Architects Ltd, Speaker of the National Assembly, Public Investment Committee of the National Assembly and Attorney-General.
They wanted a permanent injunction issued restraining the contractor from handing over the college to the government or having it inaugurated.
The activists, all from Kilifi County, also wanted the court to declare that the respondents violated the rule of law by failing to account for public funds released for the construction of the college.
They argue that from the time the tender was awarded, there have been several variations that had the effect of creating loopholes for siphoning public funds.
A report from the Auditor-General, they say, indicates that the Tourism Fund has not been remitting financial statements for the college for review and that its management has not provided an analysis of the transfers made by the National Treasury.
They also argue that the audit report indicates that no record of contracts entered into between the Tourism Fund and consultants were provided for audit.
The activists say the Auditor-General’s report also stated that the college had not submitted financial statements for audit, contrary to the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act.
They say that, among other conclusions, the report said that no evidence was provided to confirm that procurement of architectural and other consultancy services was preceded by an advertisement for expression of interest by potential contractors.
“The petitioners contend that the respondents are responsible for the loss of public funds which cannot be accounted for as explained in the auditor’s report,” they argue.
They say that they and other citizens have a fundamental right as taxpayers to be protected from waste of public resources.
You might be wondering why in the last 12 years there’s been an explosion of car dealerships and car yards on populous roads in Nairobi. This explosion came in tandem with the wanton looting of public funds as well as other criminal activities.
Why luxury vehicles?
A 2019 report on money laundering, criminals are attracted to a lifestyle of consumptive wealth. That’s why they drive flashy cars, wear bling, buying expensive botties at the club… you get the drift.
Typically the cars will be bought in cash.
This is why they’re fond of taking frequent physical trips because it’s quite hard to wire large sums of money without raising suspicion with central banks. You have to physically deliver the money to conduit banks/intermediaries who process the payments.
Trips are crucial to move cash especially to jurisdictions where they’re not strict for you to declare the amount of money you’re carrying.
For instance the UAE barely places restrictions on how much a traveler can carry into their countries. They say the max is $30,000 but they rarely enforce that. So you could get in with a whole lot more.
So how does it work?
You buy the cars with the illegal cash and as soon as it docks the port it is classified as a legitimate asset with no concern for the source of funds of the owner.
Most times these cars are being bought for “individuals” but under company names. Just convoluted paperwork to obscure true ownership and make it harder to seize as an asset.
A lot of dealers accept cash. By accepting cash payments it’s hard to scrutinize the source of wealth that the “buyer” has. You steal your X amount. Schedule a few trips to UAE or other jurisdictions, deposit the money directly into the “sellers” account, then wait for them to ship your cars.
The aviation industry is a key conduit in laundry because with the use of private jets and helicopters, you avoid a lot of the scrutiny that comes from trying to fly coach.i
Vehicle dealerships worldwide are subject to very little scrutiny. They’re not like banks that have to keep meticulous records and be subject to anti money laundering regulations which are brutal. If you have tried to run a microfinance or finance related business you know how stringent those laws are.
Some times these dealerships are just selling cars to each other so as to create clean banking records
Eg. ABCG motors buys a car at 10m using stolen funds and then sells the car to DEFG motors for 20m. Both dealerships are owned by the same criminal entity or individual.
Other times they’re “selling” cars without actually selling them.
Claim you have a car in stock and that so and so bought it however the person never actually collected the car but they deposited 10m with your dealership as the sale amount. This is done to cover up payments for like drug deals or other criminal activities.
So ABCD motors will record a sale of a vehicle and bank the amount. They are not really strict on how the person who bought the “10m” car can afford it. Banking “car sale” proceeds looks normal on paper but what actually happened is the “buyer” of the car was paying for drugs or something else.
These dealerships will go as far as creating “financing firms” to help their clients “finance” to get the cars. Then use the financing companies as an added layer of money laundering and client protection.
Not all vehicle dealerships do this but many many many of them in Kenya are run to hide the proceeds of crime and the money stolen from government
Have you never wondered when you see these fancy cars on the road, where those people are getting the funds to acquire such assets in the middle of such hard economic conditions?
And this isn’t just happening in Kenya. In the UK, the 2017 McMenamy report discovered that the Spanish Kinahan cartel set up entire networks of garages that sold cars acquired through criminal proceeds to launder drug money.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) needs to be more serious in cracking down on money laundering through dealerships.
WEEKLY REVIEW: It’s a gripping tale about the lengths to which greedy elites will go to squeeze money out of cash-rich parastatals, especially in the build- up to a general election when they are surrounded by uncertainty and prospects of im- minent regime change.
The Weekly Review has seen documents showing how towards the end of the regime of former President Uhuru Kenyatta the Na- tional Treasury crafted a bizarre scheme to ir- regularly raise a whopping Sh42 billion from the state-owned Kenya Pipeline Company.
In a nutshell,the transaction was structured as follows: You force a parastatal that you own 100 per cent to borrow billions from a syndi- cate of banks to purchase another asset that you also own 100 per cent, and in the process, raise billions of shillings for the exchequer. Indeed, KPC was being forced by the Nation- al Treasury, its shareholder, into buying the Changamwe-based Kenya Petroleum Oil Re- fineries Ltd, whose facilities have been under its management under a lease arrangement since March 2017.
Documents seen by The Weekly Review show that stakes had been so high that former National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Ukur Yatani, personally took charge of the transaction and would at some stages personally at- tend board meetings of KPC as he strenuously and laboriously scrambled to unlock the irreg- ular transaction by forcing a board resolution. Cabinet Secretaries rarely attend board meet- ings of parastatals.
This was clearly an irregular transaction in many ways. Consider the following: You buy non-revenue generating assets that you al- ready own with borrowed money, and dump a huge liability with third-party banks on the books of KPC,a company you owned at the beginning of the transaction.
But even more controversial was the valuation the National Treasury was scrambling to force through a resolution of the KPC board. According to correspondence in our possession, the Sh42 billion valuation that the Na- tional Treasury was hurriedly forcing through was conducted by the Ministry of Lands and Housing. It begs the question: Where is transparency in a transaction where the government is buying an asset it already owns on the basis of a valuation conducted by itself? Where is arm’s length and how do you buy an asset at a price you have decided by yourself ?
We have seen correspondence showing that the CEO of KPC, Dr Irungu Macharia, wrote to the National Treasury informing the company’s sole shareholder that in the corporation’s own assessment,the assets deemed useful from a business perspective were valued at a figure much lower than the government’s Sh42 billion valuation.
KPC insisted on a valuation of Sh19 billion for KPRL’s assets that it deemed useful for its business.
But the clearest indication that the trans- action that the National Treasury was trying to force on KPC was dodgy and bizarre was to emerge in a report by the financial services advisory group, PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd (PWC), a copy of which has been seen by The Weekly Review.
In brief, PWC’s assessment of the transaction was as follows: This asset is yours and KPC can get it for free by transferring the shares at a paper con value. PWC’s conclusion was sensational, considering that the National Treasury was almost succeeding in forcing KPC to take up a loan of US$400 million to pay for the as- sets of KPRL.
PWC’s valuation of land, buildings, tanks and pipe works, and a captive power plant also came to a mere Sh17.9 billion, which was a much lower figure when compared with the government’s valuation of Sh42 billion.
What comes through from the correspond- ence is that the National Treasury was adamant about proceeding with the Sh42 billion valuation. Indeed, the National Treasury ap- proval for KPC to borrow the large amount had been given as far back as December 1, 2021.“The purpose of this letter is to grant you approval to borrow Sh42.6 billion and to refinance the existing facility,”said Yatani in a letter to KPC.
Is it not the height of irony that the Nation-
al Treasury was planning to saddle KPC with this massive dollar loan despite the fact that the company was at that time still in the mid- dle of servicing a massive US$350 million loan it had borrowed in 2015 to construct a 20-inch diameter pipeline from Mombasa to Nairo- bi? As the pressure on KPC to borrow the mon- ey mounted, the company wrote to Standard Chartered Bank of the UK the mandated lead arranger in the existing dollar loan to ask for the money.“We are seeking to refinance the existing facility,whichstandsatabalance of US$149.9 million as at December 2021, as well as raise additional funding of Sh42.6 bil- lion to be utilised for acquisition of the KPRL facility,”said the company in a letter dated De- cember 17,2021.
What saved KPC from this dodgy transac- tion that was going to saddle the company with massive loans? Clearly, the change of the regime following the advent of President William Ruto’s administration in 2022 was a major factor.Pockets of resistance against the deal from within the board of the company were also an important contributory factor. Doc- uments show how the board at one point in- sisted that the borrowing of the money be delayed until thorough due diligence of KPRL and a comprehensive business case for the ac- quisition had been conducted.
The board also insisted on an independent report by the PWC report on the best take-over options. As it turned out, term sheets from the financiers and lenders did not come through until January,2021.
The lenders also spelt out conditions that in- cluded appointment of an independent trans- actions adviser. The procurement of an inde- pendent adviser did not happen until April 2022. With the General Election approaching in a few months and a change of regime imminent, the National Treasury found itself without the political muscle to push through the unpopular and dodgy transaction.
KPRL has 45 tanks with a total storage capacity of 484 million litres, out of which 254 million litres is reserved for refined products while the remaining 233 million litres is reserved for crude oil. The thinking was that these facilities would provide additional storage capacity for KPC,which would unlock supply chain bottlenecks in Mombasa and save oil marketing firms millions of dollars paid on demurrage charges to shipping companies.
KPRL also has about 370 acres of underutilised land at the port which KPC intended to use to construct storage facilities,including for LPG.
Alphabet-owned Google has suspended hundreds of loan apps in Kenya providing unsecured personal or business loans. The apps had been taken down after failing to comply with Google’s new policy requiring digital lenders to submit proof of licence, according to a TechCrunch report.
It is unclear how many apps have been booted out but expert estimates suggest that the ballpark figure could be around 500 with popular apps like MoKash and Okash receiving the axe. Up until last month, over 600 apps were active on the Play Store but that number has come down to under 200 as of Friday (March 24).
After Kenya’s central bank issued regulations for Digital Credit Providers (DCPs) last year, the US-based tech giant also published its new policy in January, requiring credit-providing applications to obtain licences from the top bank.
According to reports, only 22 digital creditors such as Tala, Pezesha and Jumo had managed to get the licence from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) till January.
The regulations state that any digital lender that is yet to get a licence from CBK can receive an interim approval for Google which is only valid for 45 days. Once the period lapses, the company should either have received the approval or file a declaration that its permit was still pending.
However, if the company failed to do so, its interim approval will be rescinded and it will be removed from the app store.
The unregulated loan app business has been booming across most countries. However, the exorbitant interest rates and predatory practices employed by the companies to exact the loan amount has tarnished the reputation of the particular digital sector.
The situation has become so dire that the Central Bank of Kenya issued a warning to mobile loan providers in 2019, urging them to cap their interest rates and refrain from using aggressive debt collection tactics. However, the warnings seem to have fallen on deaf ears, as many loan providers continued with their predatory practices.
This is where Google’s action comes in. In a statement, the tech giant announced that it had removed several loan apps from the Google Play Store for violating its policies on loan repayment terms and debt collection practices. Google stated that the loan apps in question had been found to be taking advantage of vulnerable borrowers, engaging in misleading and exploitative lending practices, and using aggressive debt collection tactics.
This move by Google is commendable and is likely to have a significant impact on the Kenyan mobile loan industry. Without access to the Google Play Store, loan providers will find it difficult to reach new borrowers, and those who have already downloaded the apps will not receive updates or security patches. This means that borrowers who use these loan apps are likely to be exposed to security risks, such as identity theft, and will have no recourse if their data is compromised.
In conclusion, Google’s suspension of several mobile loan apps in Kenya is a step in the right direction towards addressing the problem of predatory lending practices in the country. However, more needs to be done to protect vulnerable borrowers from these exploitative practices. The Kenyan government and regulators need to work together to ensure that loan providers are held accountable for their actions and that borrowers are protected from abusive lending practices.
A month before his term expires, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) boss Richard Ngatia faces an uphill battle to keep his job given that businessman David Langat, founder of the DL Group of Companies, is likely to try to unseat him with the backing of President William Ruto. Langat is thought to be preferred to the chamber’s current number two, Eric Rutto.
David Lang’at is among prominent entrepreneurs and corporate executives appointed to the National Investment Council by President William Ruto, with others including alcohol tycoon Humphrey Kariuki and Head of M-Pesa Sitoyo Lopokoiyit.
Lang’at is among businessmen who backed President Ruto’s State House bid in the 2022 polls. He has, however, mostly managed to keep a low profile for much of the over three decades he has spent rising in the world of business.
He made his fortune in the import and export business, before expanding into agribusiness, real estate, energy, hospitality, insurance and, more recently, special economic zones (SEZs). According to his firm, DL Group, importing and exporting goods including electronics and furniture was among the earliest activities engaged in after establishing the business in the eighties.
Some of Lang’at’s ventures include DL Teas, DL Farms, Selenkei Investments and Cedate (energy), Nyali Mall, Sunrise Resort and Spa, Niconat Insurance and Africa Economic Zones Ltd. DL Teas owns farms in Kericho and Nandi and according to DL Group has a production capacity of about 11,000 tonnes per year, DL Farms comprises 1,000 acres under crop and 500 acres for livestock, and Selenkei and Cedate are managing development of solar PV projects to be located on 600 acres of land near Eldoret town, with an ongoing 94 MW Project having an investment of $170 Million (Ksh20.8 billion).
More ventures in Lang’at’s portfolio include furniture dealer DL Furniture, fire fighting equipment provider Firefox and a partnership with Israel’s Magical Security Systems to provide provide design, installation and maintenance of integrated security systems in East Africa.
Mr. Scandals
At KNCCI, Ngatia is loathed by a section of management who feel like he runs the organization as if it’s his own household. This has seen Ngatia battle numerous court battles with disgruntled colleagues in the hierarchy who feel squeezed by his mismanagement.
In 2019, Nairobi Chambers directors took Ngatia to court for meddling in the affairs of the organization that saw him force Geoffrey Kimani an accomplice into office just in time for a MasterCard project that blew up.
At the time, it was reported that Equity Bank had gotten into a partnership with KNCCI and set aside Sh200 billion for the chambers to access as part of the COVID-19 financial support for businesses. However, it turned out this was just a bluff and didn’t move beyond the cameras. It didn’t take off as Equity Bank being a partner with MasterCard had gotten wind of the misuse of funds by the chambers and took a long step back. There was nothing to show that this loan hit the accounts.
In the MasterCard case, it’s said while the beneficiaries were to strictly be members of the chamber and from Nairobi county, preliminary results showed some beneficiaries were outside the county. Only a forensic audit would reveal the extent of the alleged crime.
MasterCard at the time, wrote a protest letter to the body demanding for a refund of their money earlier given and was misused, KNCCI instead on their website, uploaded a planted story claiming to have received again money from MasterCard but this was a damage control, nothing had happened at that time.
President Ruto and Richard Ngatia.
Ngatia who was an aspirant for Nairobi Governorship on the former President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party ahead of the August 9, 2022 General Election is also battling other corruption allegations mostly from the health sector where he’s regarded as one of the ‘healthcare mafias’ or ‘Covid-Millionaires’
Recently, an activist moved to court to have the businessman probed over the “irregular” procurement of Sh10.2 billion Computed Tomography Scanners (CT Scanners).
The lobby group called for forensic investigations into the tender for the supply of the machines, controversially awarded by the Ministry of Health in 2017 to Megascope Healthcare (K) Limited, a firm linked to Mr Ngatia.
Mr Frank Awino of the Human Rights Crusaders under the Concerned Citizens Kenya- a civil society organisation, says that the procurement of the 37 SCT Scanners was a gross violation of Article 227 of the Constitution and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act that should not be allowed to “just slip away.”
Mr Awino has since petitioned Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha to call in the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate the “irregular” procurement and that those found culpable be prosecuted.
“There is overwhelming evidence of grievous irregularities and circumventing of the law in the procurement of the CT Scanners,” Mr Awino says in the petition.
Article 227 (1) of the Constitution provides that when a state organ or any other public entity contracts for goods or services, it shall do so in accordance with a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective.
The procurement law states the procedures for efficient public procurement must be devoid of skewed processes.
Mr Awino notes that there was no reason to have the CT scan machines not included in the Managed Equipment Services (MES) leasing scheme.
He is also questioning why the Ministry of Health went ahead to procure the same independently besides the “blatant” violation of the procurement laws.
Hoodwinked
The petitioner avers that the Ministry of Health and the general public may have been hoodwinked that the procurement of the machines was a Government-to-Government arrangement between the Kenyan government and that of China.
The contract signed on August 21, 2017, provides that the Kenyan government pays 20 percent of the contract sum of Sh1.7 billion with the Chinese government through China Development Bank financing the balance of Sh8.5 billion in loans to be paid by the Kenyan government.
The supplier was required to supply, install and maintain the scanners in hospitals identified by the ministry of Health for five years.
Although one machine was to cost Sh75 million, documents presented to parliament revealed that the price was varied to Sh235 million, slightly more than three times the cost of a machine, in what signaled blatant misuse of public funds.
This emerged even as the National Treasury previously said that the entire amount included cost of scanners, accessories, training of staff- radiographers and related infrastructure, a clarification that did not sit well with the MPs.
Although the Chinese government had recommended to the Kenyan government an international CT scan manufacturing company- Neusoft Medical Systems Company limited to supply the machines, the contract was “strangely” awarded to Megascope Healthcare (K) limited.
“There was no competitive bidding for the tender as it was executed through a restricted process and the beneficiaries could themselves or through their agents have induced the heist,” says Mr Awino adding; “curiously, there were no procurement documents availed for audit review as required by the law.”
The choice to whether Ngatia will retain his seat or relinquish sits with the president.
An investigation by Al Jazeera has revealed some of Southern Africa’s largest gold-smuggling operations, exposing how these gangs help criminals around the world launder millions of dollars of money while helping governments circumvent international sanctions.
Gold Mafia, a four-part series by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) based on dozens of undercover operations spanning three continents, and thousands of documents, also shows
how government officials and businesspeople are profiting from the illegal movement of gold across borders.
The investigation reveals how millions of dollars worth of gold is smuggled every month from Zimbabwe to Dubai, allowing criminals to whitewash dirty money through a web of shell companies, fake invoices and paid-off officials.
The investigation also shows how Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is systematically using gold smugglers to get around the chokehold of Western sanctions imposed on the country. The money laundering and gold-smuggling schemes involve one of Zimbabwe’s most influential diplomats, and go all the way up to the president and his circle.
The smugglers include millionaires, one of whom was accused of almost bankrupting Kenya through a similar, corrupt scheme also involving gold.
Gold smuggling, money laundering
Posing as criminals from China looking to launder more than $100m, Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters managed to gain access to these smugglers and gangs.
Zimbabwe is a key player in these operations. Gold accounts for almost half – at least $2bn – of the country’s exports. But the nation faces a strict international sanctions regime, and even though its gold trade is not in itself banned by the West, the broader strictures against Zimbabwe make it harder to export the precious metal through official channels.
However, using a web of companies and patronage from some of Zimbabwe’s most powerful individuals, smugglers have turned those constraints on trade into an opportunity to launder millions of dollars and help the government in Harare get around some of the consequences of sanctions.
The process is as simple as it is cunning: Criminals from around the world with large volumes of unaccounted cash can give that money to the Zimbabwe government, directly or through smugglers. The Zimbabwe government desperately needs US dollars since the county’s own currency has little international value following years of hyperinflation.
In exchange, launderers get clean, legitimate cash — from the sale of Zimbabwean gold — transferred to their bank accounts.
‘Good washing machine’
One of the smuggling operations the I-Unit encountered was led by Uebert Angel, Zimbabwe’s ambassador-at-large to Europe and the Americas. Angel was appointed personally by President Emmerson Mnangagwa with the responsibility of securing global investments for Zimbabwe, and is one of the country’s most influential diplomats.
Angel, who is also a prominent pastor, works with his deputy, Rikki Doolan. The duo made an offer to Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters that Angel could use his diplomatic cover to smuggle dirty money into Zimbabwe. That cash would then be used to buy Zimbabwean gold with the help of Henrietta Rushwaya, president of the country’s mining association and a niece of Mnangagwa.
“It’s a good washing machine, right?” Doolan said, a smile on his face, while speaking with Al Jazeera reporters.
Angel and Doolan, who met the reporters in London, repeatedly claimed that the country’s president was on board with their plans. Angel had another laundering idea, too: He proposed using the unaccounted money to build a hotel near Victoria Falls, a popular tourist attraction in Zimbabwe.
‘It’s very clean that way’
If access to power is the currency that Angel and Doolan peddled, gold is the calling card of a string of — at times rival — smuggling operations.
One of the gangs is run by Kamlesh Pattni, a businessman who in the 1990s was accused of pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars belonging to the Kenyan exchequer through a gold smuggling scheme. He was charged but never convicted. Al Jazeera’s undercover operation shows that Pattni is now involved in a similar scam in Zimbabwe, exporting gold to Dubai and then laundering both the money and the precious metal.
Pattni’s biggest competitor, a gold smuggler named Ewan Macmillan, also offered to help launder money for Al Jazeera’s reporters. Like Pattni, Macmillan uses a group of couriers to transport hundreds of kilos of gold per week from Zimbabwe to Dubai, where it is then laundered through a web of companies and false invoices. Central to Macmillan’s operations is his business partner Alistair Mathias, who advises clients on how to cleanse their dirty cash.
Finally, Al Jazeera obtained details of how Simon Rudland, one of Zimbabwe’s richest men, launders money through both Zimbabwean and South African companies. Rudland is the owner of Gold Leaf Tobacco, one of Southern Africa’s biggest cigarette brands, especially on South Africa’s black market.
These smuggling gangs have official licences from Zimbabwe’s central bank that allow them to sell the country’s gold in Dubai, documents accessed by Al Jazeera show. They are expected to return the proceeds from those sales to the central bank.
Instead, Pattni, Macmillan and Matthias have a well-oiled money laundering mechanism in place. They told Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters to set up shell companies in Dubai that would serve as a front for the gold trade. The legitimate money earned from the sale of Zimbabwean gold in the emirate would be transferred to the bank accounts of these shell firms. And the smugglers would instead carry the dirty cash back with them to Harare, where they would deposit it with the central bank.
“So, it’s very clean that way,” said Mathias, Macmillan’s partner.
Kamlesh Pattni
A gold smuggler involved in a scandal that robbed Kenya of 10 percent of its GDP in the 1990s moved his smuggling operation to Zimbabwe and Dubai.
Kamlesh Pattni was involved in the so-called Goldenberg scandal, a gold smuggling operation that robbed Kenya of 10 percent of its GDP and led to charges of corruption against many members of then President Daniel Arap Moi’s government. After years of prosecution, Pattni was acquitted.
Pattni, who later became a self-proclaimed pastor and sometimes goes by the name Brother Paul, is now running a similar scheme in Zimbabwe from his base of operations in Dubai.
Undercover Al Jazeera reporters pretending to be Chinese criminals were offered several options by Pattni to launder more than $100m.
He would do this by effectively turning the dirty money into gold that is exported from Zimbabwe to Dubai, where Pattni owns several gold-trading companies.
Pattni exports gold bars and jewellery from Zimbabwe through his company Suzan General Trading, which gets paid an incentive by the government to sell gold overseas.
The plan Pattni suggested would mean the dirty money, in US dollars, would be flown to Harare, where it would be declared as the proceeds of the gold exported by Suzan General Trading.
That money is then used to buy gold in Zimbabwe, which would then be exported to one of Pattni’s Dubai based companies.
Owning both the exporter in Zimbabwe and the importer in Dubai gives Pattni the opportunity to launder the money, which would then be paid into a Dubai bank account and would appear to come from legitimate gold trade.
Pattni himself would take a 10 percent commission.
‘Always have the king with you’
During the secretly recorded conversations with Al Jazeera reporters, Pattni claimed that the country’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was aware of his gold-smuggling and money laundering operations.
When asked about Mnangagwa’s involvement, Pattni said: “He knows of course, yes. But he can’t, he will not talk too openly.”
“When you work you must always have the King with you, the president.”
Pattni showed several WhatsApp conversations he allegedly had with Mnangagwa, adding that “he has to be informed.”
The scheme helps Zimbabwe secure large amounts of US dollars, a hard currency the country can then use on its internal and international markets at a time when its own currency has lost much of its global standing because of hyperinflation.
Kamlesh Pattni once smuggled gold out of Kenya, now he is doing the same in Zimbabwe [Al Jazeera]
Goldenberg scandal
Since the 1990s, Pattni has cultivated close ties with several leaders all over Africa, and was quick to boast of that proximity while speaking with Al Jazeera’s reporters. He showed them photos of himself with former Libyan President Muhammar Gadaffi, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and ex-Kenyan presidents Daniel Arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki.
His rise to power started in his home country Kenya — at a tailor’s shop in Nairobi. At a time when Western sanctions were strangling the country’s economy, Pattni told our reporters that he bumped into the East African nation’s head of intelligence while looking for a suit. He offered to bring in revenue in exchange for gold. Pattni claimed the intelligence officer took him to meet President Arap Moi.
Pattni’s company, Goldenberg International, was granted an exclusive licence to export Kenyan gold, but instead, he smuggled gold from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
That gold was then sold abroad, while Pattni’s company charged the government a 35 percent commission. He said he was an “adviser” to Arap Moi, who was under growing domestic and international scrutiny over his refusal to allow multi-party elections.
“In 1992, there was a lot of fights, riots in the street and they wanted [a] multi-party [system],” Pattni said. “We advised just make it multi-party because ‘the money is with you, you will still win [the election].’”
“I help[ed] the president to survive.”
After Arap Moi eventually left office in 2002, Pattni was charged with several counts of fraud in a court case that would drag on for more than a decade. Arap Moi and many members of his government were also implicated in the scandal, accused of receiving bribes from Pattni and his aides. But Pattni was eventually acquitted — and no one has been convicted in the scandal.
When asked to explain the revelations emerging from Al Jazeera’s investigation, Pattni denied any criminal wrongdoing in Kenya and emphasised that he had never been convicted in relation to his activities in that country. He denied involvement in any kind of money laundering or sanctions busting, as well as employing anyone to smuggle cash or offering to deal with funds he knew originated from illegal sources. He said that when he met with Al Jazeera’s undercover team, he thought he was meeting with an investor who wanted to buy a stake in hotel businesses and “to divest of a portfolio in China into gold buying and mining in Zimbabwe”.
Chinese-based popular social media app TikTok faces a full ban in the US as its CEO Shou Chew testified Thursday before the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.
Chew was grilled by American lawmakers about many practices of the app, from potential national security risks for the US to data mining, users’ mental health such as addiction, depression, and anxiety, especially among children and teenagers.
Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, accused big tech companies of targeting and influencing their users’ behavior, and urged the Congress to pass an online data privacy law.
“This is a much broader issue than TikTok in China. There are other malign actors across the world who gather data, use as element of social control and influence,” she said.
“Harms to children are very serious and demand swift action. Big tech platforms profit immensely from keeping children addicted. They do not care about the privacy, safety and health of our kids. They are the modern-day tobacco and cigarette companies,” she said.
TikTok has a global influence with more than 1 billion monthly active users. Together with its Chinese version Douyin, both versions of the app have over 2.5 billion daily active users in the world.
Rep. John P. Sarbanes, a Democrat from Maryland, said: “More time middle and high schoolers spend on social media … they are to experience depression and anxiety,” noting that 16% of American teenagers reported they used TikTok “almost constantly” — around 5 million teenagers in the nation.
“We know that big tech, including TikTok, uses design features that can manipulate users including children and teens to keep them engaged, designed to feed them a never-ending stream of content, to keep their attention for hours, which includes capitalizing on the desire for others’ approval,” he explained.
Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican from Ohio, argued that TikTok is “attempting to mislead Americans about what their technology is capable of and who has access to their information.
Chew argued that majority of content on Tiktok is “fun, entertaining, informative and very positive for users,” adding: “Other companies that operate in this country, we have to deal with some bad actors who come and publish some illegal drugs.”
“The TikTok user experience should be compared to other US companies,” he added, noting that his home country Singapore has “almost no” illegal drug content because it has very strict drug laws.
TikTok to be banned from UK parliamentary devices
The British parliament announced earlier that TikTok will be blocked from all parliamentary devices and internet servers.
Several US states have already banned TikTok on government-issued devices amid alleged potential security risks.
Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan, noted that TikTok is valued at more than $50 billion, and questioned whether the company has ties with the Chinese Communist Party.
“What is your relationship to the Communist Party, which is our major concern. What impact that would be … with a communist party that does not care about America and sees us standing in their way for superpower. That’s our concern,” he said.
Walberg went further to state that TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance’s employees in Beijing have access to American users’ data.
Chew said Chinese engineers have access to global data, but storage has always been in Singapore and Virginia, US.
He noted that TikTok spent $1.5 billion in past two years on project tests, which have revolved around addressing the US government’s concerns about its data usage.
The CEO refused that the Chinese Communist Party has access to users’ data and said: “This is a private business. Like many other businesses, many other American companies rely on the global workforce,” and added the workforce does not have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
When Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter, a Republican from Georgia, asked about what type of data TikTok gathers, Chew said the company does not collect body, face, voice data to identify its users.
Rep. Deborah Ann Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, asked whether TikTok has sold “precise GPS information collected from US users,” Chew said his company does not sell information to data brokers.
Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Democrat from Delaware, argued that TikTok has “personalized data advertising for kids” and said engineers in China has access to personal data of 13-year-olds in the US.
Rep. Debbie Lesko, a Republican from Arizona, asked Chew if he agrees that the Chinese government has prosecuted the Uyghur population, reminding that a TikTok user’s account was suspended after putting a video on the social media sharing app.
TikTok user Feroza Aziz, 17, who lives in New Jersey, in her late 2019 video blasted China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslim population.
While Aziz made her political comments in a video about her tips on eyelash improvement to prevent censorship from the social media app, TikTok argued that one of her previous videos briefly showed a photo of Osama bin Laden.
China’s northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region is home to around 10 million Uyghurs, as the Turkic Muslim group makes up around 45% of Xinjiang’s population. It has long been accusing China of cultural and religious discrimination, a claim rejected by Chinese officials.
The 39-year-old former Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid striker, took to Instagram to announce his retirement revealing that he is excited and ready for the next stage of his life.
“From the highs to the lows, my career as a professional athlete has been an incredible journey,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Thank you to my fans for being there every step of the way. I’m feeling so grateful for everything, and excited for what’s to come!”
The Togolese striker shone in his three and a half years at the Gunners after joining from Monaco in 2006, scoring 62 goals and in 2008 was crowned African Footballer of The Year and named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
However, in July 2009 he joined Manchester City for £25m – who had recently been bought by the Abu Dhabi United Group – with many Arsenal fans feeling let down by the move.
To compound matters, two months later the teams met in the Premier League and Adebayor scored against his old club in a 4-2 win, famously running the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the travelling Arsenal fans, with projectiles, including a chair, thrown from the away end.
It earned him a suspendedtwo-match ban and £25,000 fine, in addition to a three-match ban for a stamp on former Arsenal team-mate Robin van Persie.
Adebayor apologised, saying “the emotion took over me”, but said the Arsenal fans had been insulting him all game.
The controversial goal – an 80th-minute header – features in his retirement announcement on Instagram, as does another strike for Manchester City.
Adebayor would later be loaned to Real Madrid, before a permanent move to Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham, before stints at Crystal Palace and spells in Turkey and Paraguay.
The former Togo forward, who scored 32 goals in 85 games for his country, finished his career in his homeland at Semassi.
Only three African players have scored more Premier League goals than Adebayor’s 97 – Chelsea’s Didier Drogba (104), former Liverpool and Southampton winger Sadio Mane (111) and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah (131).
A non-governmental organisation has sued tech giant Google over alleged privacy violations by illegally tracking Android users and collecting personal information.
The internet search company is also being accused of breaching Kenya’s data protection laws by illegally invading the privacy of users and collecting their biometric information.
The class-action lawsuit has been filed by the African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action (ACCPA) together with 31 users. They have also sued the Attorney-General, the ICT Cabinet Secretary, the Data Commissioner and the Communication Authority of Kenya.
The lawsuit that was filed yesterday through lawyer Karugu Mbugua at the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi, alleges that Google, through the Global Positioning System (GPS), “is … able to track the movement of Android users without their explicit consent”.
Suit notice appearing on local dailies.
It further alleges that Google’s cloud-based platform, The Google Photos app, which comes pre-installed on all Google Android devices, is set to automatically upload and store all photos taken by the Android device user.
The claimants, who allege that the personal data is shared with third parties, are seeking damages for the alleged breach of privacy and a declaration that the lawsuit is a “public interest case”.
Right to privacy
The lawsuit also seeks a declaration that Google’s actions contravene provisions of Article 31 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy. The claimants have trained their sights on Google Search Engine, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Photos.
“Once the personal data is uploaded … on Google Photos, the photos are [analysed through] artificial intelligence for unique points and contours (i.e biometric identifiers) of each individual face. Then it uses the data to create and store a template of each face without informing the user of this practice,” the claimants say in their court papers.
“These unique face templates are also used to recognise individuals’ gender, age and location. Google has a set of functions and procedures allowing the creation of applications that access the features or data of an operating system where third parties can access personal data stored,” says the claimants.
“Google also runs a digital distribution service dubbed Google Play Store and which … allows users to browse and download applications developed with the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) and published through Google.”
The respondents are yet to file their responses to the suit as it is yet to get hearing directions.
Jamhuri Holding Limited (JHL) through its parent company, Helios Investment, issued an ultimatum to Kenya to either fully acquire Telkom or source for strategic investors to take over ownership.
This followed a raft of frustrations and bureaucracies by the government which bogged down the deal. The ultimatum, which was revealed by the former National Treasury Cabinet for Secretary Ukur Yatani, was invoked as per the shareholding agreement between Kenya and UK private equity firm, Helios Investment Partners.
The government then initiated the process of JHL’s exit through the National Security Council (NSC) which pegged the buyback decision as mainly a national security matter and not for commercial purposes.
Ordinary shares
This, according to Yatani led to the full acquisition of all the ordinary shares in Telkom at a token of $1 only despite the Telkom board insisting that the firm’s ownership is still split between the government and JHL.
“Whether the Government of Kenya likes it or not, they (Helios) have already given clear indication that they are exiting. And when they exit, there are only two options, GoK takes over shares of Helios or it has to bring in other shareholders,” Yatani told the Kuria Kimani-led committee on Finance and National Planning committee.
The committee which is investigating the alleged Sh6.14 billion buyback of Telkom by the previous government has since established that is was a loan repayment. Yatani further revealed that Helios felt it was being frustrated after the government unprocedurally took over its major assets – about 78 acres of land along Ngong road that is estimated to be worth Sh10 billion. The asset has still not been reverted to Helios, according to the former CS. This, plus the rejection of the Airtel-Telkom merger due to national security concerns exposed Helios to losses in the Telkom investment.“Against that background, a directive was made to me by the national security council. I was directed to implement this issue and provide appropriate budget as required,” said Yattani.
The proposed Telkom-Airtel merger was blocked by the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) on grounds of risk to national security since the government would not have much control of critical infrastructures that are critical to government communications services to the State Houses among other highly-guarded areas. The merger would have set the stage for the exit of Helios from the shareholding of Telkom.
Telkom is also reeling under the pressure of some $239 million (Sh30.8 billion) loan that JHL absorbed from Orange East Africa, an amount that the government will be expected to inherit if the full acquisition stands as revealed by Yatani. It also owes Safaricom and America Towers about Sh9.4 billion in total.
Telkom board, with the backing of the current government, has already started a fresh process of soliciting new investors to resuscitate it even as parliament still scrutinises the true legal status and ownership of the company. The investigation on one hand and a lurking acquisition is sending a mixed signal to the market and investors, especially for a company whose ownership has severally changed hands in less than a decade.
22 March 2023, Nairobi, Kenya – Factor[e] Ventures today strengthens its commitment to transform the African start-up ecosystem with the launch of Delta40, a new venture studio that aims to increase incomes and tackle climate change in Africa by building and investing in technology ventures.
US ambassador to Kenya and iconic chief executive Meg Whitman spoke at the launch event, highlighting the pioneering mix of talent, technology, capital, and hands-on support the Delta40 team will provide African founders and startups innovating to solve the biggest problems.
Delta40 focuses on technology-driven energy, agriculture, and mobility ventures led by diverse, experienced founders. In addition to capital, Delta40 acts as a co-founder, providing fast, iterative product testing, technology brokering, early-stage commercialisation, and working side-by-side to increase the speed of venture building. Delta40 secured early funding and strategic support from Autodesk Foundation and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), a collective action platform partnered with The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and Bezos Earth Fund, leading climate tech law firm Wilson Sonisi, as well as government, private sector, and finance institutions.
Led by Lyndsay Holley Handler, who brings two decades of leadership, operations and startup experience growing ventures in 15 countries across the continent, the Delta40 team has a deep understanding of how to navigate challenges and succeed in Africa’s booming tech scene. Holley Handler previously led clean energy company Fenix International through pan-African expansion with MTN, which was acquired in 2018 by ENGIE, the French multinational utility company. Through Delta40, she aims to use her considerable knowledge to help other entrepreneurs scale their ventures with organic growth or strategic corporate partnerships and acquisitions.
Delta40 Co-Founder and Managing Partner Lyndsay Holley Handler said: “By 2100, 40% of the world’s population will live in Africa. This presents an incredible opportunity – and imperative – to invest in entrepreneurs on the ground developing life-changing climate innovations. We are launching the Delta40 Venture Studio to connect African and female founders with the technology, talent, capital and leadership support they need to build successful companies and thrive. Together with our founders, we aim to build a portfolio of transformative ventures across this important continent that improve lives, amplify the entrepreneurial ecosystem and protect the planet for generations to come.”
US ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman spoke at the Delta40 launch event, sharing advice for startup founders and stating that based on her experience scaling Ebay from $5.7 million to $8 billion in sales as its CEO, Kenya is the technology innovation hub of Africa. Pictured L to R: Elana Laichena, Delta40 Co-Founder in Residence; Dr. Linda Davis, Delta40 Co-Founder in Residence, Giraffe Bioenergy; Meg Whitman, US ambassador; Roy Njoka, Delta40 Co-Founder in Residence, TerraLima; Lyndsay Holley Handler, Delta40 Managing Partner; Clinton Obura, Delta40 Co-Founder in Residence.
Delta40 benefits from the support of Factor[e] Ventures, an organization of venture builders and pre-seed investors. They collaborate on sourcing Founders, developing theses, brokering technology, and providing a post-investment support platform that adds value to portfolio companies as they grow.
Morgan DeFoort from Factor[e] Ventures said: “Although only 3% of global carbon emissions come from Africa, more than 60% of African households will be affected by climate change if we do not act. A decade of investing in energy, agriculture, mobility, and water innovations in emerging markets has affirmed that there is a great opportunity at the formation stage to support local and diverse founders as they connect their technologies and markets. Factor[e] Ventures is proud to launch Delta40 to scale our ability to identify, test, invest in and grow technology-driven ventures leading the fight against climate change in this important market.”
Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet’s Eric Wanless said: “Investing in innovation is key to driving economic development and solving climate change. GEAPP is proud to support Delta40 and the venture studio model, which drives innovation and creates skilled jobs and sustainable livelihoods across emerging economies. This initiative will support African startupsand entrepreneurs in their mission to deliver and scale technology that helps local entrepreneurs thrive while developing clean energy solutions that protect the planet.”
Jean Shia, managing director of the Autodesk Foundation, said: “The Autodesk Foundation backs innovations with the potential to transform industries to be more sustainable, resilient and equitable. We have supported Factor[e] since 2017 and are thrilled to see its innovative model expand to include the launch of a venture studio that sets a new bar for cultivating entrepreneurs. We invest for impact, and are confident that Delta40’s blend of operating experience in Africa, technology expertise, and commitment to investing in diverse founders will successfully accelerate African startups and their life-changing climate innovations.”
Delta40’s unique approach leverages the momentum of a record year for African tech startups, which raised a total of US$6.5B (+8% YoY). However, investment still lags in diverse Founders and key sectors such as energy, agriculture and mobility. This gap creates a favourable investment environment that is further strengthened by untapped tech talent resources, an increasingly friendly regulatory environment, and exponential population growth.
Delta40 is already building six ventures led by experienced Founders and is actively evaluating new Founders and venture ideas. Holley Handler continued: “After building Pan-African ventures for two decades, we are confident that the venture studio model can dramatically increase the speed and success of innovation from idea to scale to exit. We welcome entrepreneurs and other partners with a shared mission to build with us.”
An investigation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit infiltrates rival gangs that control Africa’s gold. Criminal networks turn dirty cash into gold, which is sold around the world. The investigation leads to the highest offices of state in southern Africa.
GOLD MAFIA is a four-part series by the I-Unit to be released on March 23rd 2023. The series looks at how society’s obsession with gold through the ages underwrites a global shadow economy. It exposes the complicity of global financial institutions, regulators and governments in the criminality.
Through thousands of confidential documents and exclusive interviews with whistleblowers from within the criminal underworld, investigators obtain the blueprints of billion-dollar money laundering operations that service the political elite.
Undercover reporters pose as criminals with over a billion dollars of black money that needs to be cleaned. The team is led by a fictitious Mr Stanley, a Chinese gangster with links to the Triads. His undercover reporters befriend members of rival gold mafia gangs.
In Episode 1: The Laundry Service
The founder of the UK-based Good News Church, which has 15 branches around the world, offers to launder 1.2 billion dollars of dirty cash from China.
“I am the 2nd largest diplomat in the country,” Uebert Angel tells undercover reporters.
Angel is also presidential envoy and Zimbabwe’s ambassador-at-large to 85 countries. He offers to use his diplomatic cover to fly Mr Stanlev’s dirty cash into Zimbabwe where it can be laundered through gold and other investments.
“Right now I can have a bag like this with 1.2 billion and put red tape written diplomat. Nobody can touch it”, Angel says. “It is a very, very easy thing.”
Mr Stanley and his team get invited to closed door meetings with Kamlesh Pattni, notorious for devising a gold export scam that siphoned $600 million from Kenya in the nineties. They also sit down with Pattni’s competitor and convicted gold smuggler, Ewan Macmillan.
“There is an opportunity, a hell of a big opportunity to wash money here,” Macmillan says.
Both men are licensed gold traders in Zimbabwe and Dubai. They offer our undercover team lucrative deals to launder over $100 million through government gold export schemes. The rival crime bosses reveal that at the centre of it their operations is southern Africa’s biggest laundromat, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The investigation reveals that the Gold Mafia are employed by Zimbabwe’s Fuling elite to export gold on the government’s behalf. It is a scheme to bust international sanctions placed on political leaders and government entities.
Mr Stanley speaks to Henrietta Rushwaya, president of Zimbabwe Miners Federation and niece of President Emmerson Mangagwa. Within minutes, she offers them a laundry service that can clean $10 million of dirty cash a week through the reserve bank and gold producers she knows.
Instability has rocked the once-solid communications team that has traditionally surrounded President William Ruto for over a decade. Recent events, attributed to the entry of Hussein Mohamed as State House Spokesperson caused the old order, at the top of which is David Mugonyi, President Ruto’s long-time spokesperson.
After his swearing-in, President Ruto appointed Mohamed as the State House Spokesperson, elevating him from his campaign role as director of communications. And it seemed like a no-brainer: Mohammed was the man for the job because of his extensive expertise in journalism and his ability to manage public relations effectively. His experience as a journalist gave him an edge to handle media interactions and manage the president’s image.
But others felt that Ruto already had a solid team of communications experts, who have been around him for many years, and that an extra communications person would simply spoil the party. Besides, Mugonyi already had his eyes set on the Spokesperson role.
Hussein’s tenure as State House spokesperson was off to a rocky start as the President’s confidants felt that a newcomer was not the best person to control the flow of information to the public, as both camps jostled for control to act as the intermediaries between the President and the public, in a bickering war reminiscent of the turf wars between former State House Communications Director Dennis Itumbi and then State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu, who is currently Kenya’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Sources intimate that both Mugonyi and Mohamed’s teams have been trying to outdo the other as they jostle for the president’s ear and attention, including frustrating access to anyone deemed to be friendly to the other side, and creating a great deal of tension and infighting. The situation was further complicated by the release of Executive Order No 1 in late 2022, which placed Mohamed under the Head of the Presidential Press Service – something that has never happened before.
The situation became so bad that Hussein Mohamed was reportedly considering quitting. However, this was resolved by a subsequent Executive Order in 2023, which separated the offices of Mohamed and Mugonyi.
The control of information about the president has always been a politically charged issue, with various stakeholders eager to stay close to the person in charge, the result being bitter infighting within the State House as individuals jostle for position and control over the president’s public communications.
The situation has been further complicated by the fact that the Head of PPS is largely invisible, unable to talk to the media, take interviews, or release press statements. This has left Mugonyi feeling threatened, as he is unable to perform the same high-profile tasks as the spokesperson. The tension almost negatively impacted work at State House, as statements were finding their way out in the public before they could be officially released – leading to talk of potential sabotage.
Tens of parastatal chief executives are sitting on the edge as Ruto’s administration aggressively seeks to replace top bosses in State-backed firms and agencies as it races to assert its influence.
Chief executives in at least nine cash-flush parastatals will see their terms expire in the coming months while over 11 of the firms have CEOs serving in an acting capacity, which are low-hanging fruits for new ministers to tap their allies for the coveted offices.
Traditionally, a change in administration often triggers shake-ups in parastatals as the President and ministers move to assert their influence over government-managed entities that have previously been used as centres of patronage by previous regimes.
The new administration, which came to power in September last year has mostly fired directors appointed in the former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s last days and populated the boards with losers in the August General Elections who supported his Ruto’s coalition.
This has set the stage for the replacement of chief executives of top State-owned firms by friendlier boards despite a majority of their contracts running up to next year.
One of the executives whose terms have lapsed is Philip Mainga of Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) which ended in February 2023.
Mr Mainga took over the jobjob substantively in January 2020. Before then, he was the acting boss at the state corporation after the suspension of the former boss Atanas Maina in August 2018 on corruption allegations.
The Managing Director Maingaexecuted a flawed deal with Africa Star Railways (Afristar), the Chinese operator for the SGR line, which ran largely unchecked where Kenya Railways lost up to Sh.1.4m daily. The contract was signed during Athanas Maina’s tenure and was initiated by Mainga himself.
Allegations
Mainga, an ardent Azimio supporter has been fighting an underground war together with the board and some senior officials who didn’t like his leadership style and hate towards the current president, William Ruto.
Mainga was lobbied to be the managing director by Kalonzo Musyoka and former prime minister Raila Odinga.
Even as he prepares to exit, a new whistleblower report has surfaced that exposes the dirty past that would haunt him.
Abuse of office
In the whistleblower report seen by Kenya Insights, Mainga is accused of abusing his office during his tenure as the acting MD.
On 21″ March, 2019, hes alleged to have unilaterally leased Kenya Railways facilities (container yards and buildings) at Makongeni Nairobi for ten (10) years without any internal procedures or reporting to the board for approval as expected. The report says that Mainga did this while with the full knowledge that KPA had actually taken over the property in October 2018 without formal handing over and also that the property was being used by Kenya Railways to earn twenty tree million (23,000,000.00) a month and to date Railways have lost over four hundred million shillings (400,000,000.00) in form of transport of containers of ICDN and storage charges.
As a result of his action, Kenya Ports Authority uplifted the railway lines without authority and resorted to the use of road transport which was allegedly a corruption scheme designed to benefit specific road transporter. The whistleblower says the corporation will have to incur additional costs to reinstate the line to its original use.
It also states that through the letter of offer dated 14* September, 2018, Mr. Mainga indicated that the board in its 394th meeting held on 26 January, 2018 approved the lease of KR reserve land along Bunyala road to Taff International while in the full knowledge that out of the 7 leases approved by the board on that day none of them related to Taff International.
That through a letter of offer dated 2nd October 2018, he indicated that the board in their 410th meeting held on 26th September 2018 recommended that the corporation leases five (5) acres in Thika for 15 years to Harvest International from 1st November, 2018 while in the full Knowledge that the lease was not part of those which were approved during the 410th special board meeting. Given that the land was in an operation zone, he failed or ignored to check with relevant department whether leasing of the land will conflict with the current or future railway operations as is normally a policy when leasing land designed for operation.
That On10′ July, 2019, Mainga wrote letters indicating that during 430′ special board meeting dated 9th July, 2019, the board recommended the leasing of the land to Kokotoni Investments Ltd and Mapset Maritime Ltd for 3oyears while in full knowledge that the board did not approve leasing of the land to the two companies.
That on 22″ March 2018, Mr. Mainga without any reasonable cause evicted Kristaline Salt Ltd from corporation go down in Malaba and coinvestigated their goods. He then leased the property to a tenant of his choice, Multiple Solutions Ltd. Through his actions, the corporation is facing unnecessary claim of USD 10,315.50 and Ksh. 395,400.00 apart from general damages, costs of suits and damages.
Lack of Transparency and Accountability
The report says the MD failed to showcase transparency and fairness during leading processes. “Sub division & leasing of Siwani Estate Nakuru- Mr. Mainga sub divided the said land into twenty-two (22) plots and presented a lease of exactly twenty-two (22) to the board for approval without demonstrating how they were transparently identified and thus giving room for corrupt activities.” It states.
“sub division & leasing of Sleeper press land, Nairobi – Mr. Mainga sub divided the said land into eight (8) plots and presented a lease of exactly eight (8) to the board for approval without demonstrating how the they were transparently identified and thus giving room for corrupt activities.”
“Leasing of Nairobi South Hub and its Environs _ Kenya Railway land that was recently acquired for SGR has been leased to a few known companies without any demonstration that the exercise was undertaken transparently and fairly” claims the report seen by Kenya Insights.
Projects without Plans
According to the report, Mr. Mainga allegedly disregarded the need for planning before engaging the corporation resources.
A case in hand is the leasing of Athi River logistics hub – Mr. Mainga is alleged to have allowed Grain Bulk Handling Limited (GBHL) to take over the proposed KR Athi River Logistics Hub before physical planning for the area was undertaken.
As a result of this preferential access; GHBL blocked a would be access road to Athi River SGR railway station. GBHL acquire sixty-two (62) acres instead of fifty (5o) acres they were allocated. Planners were forced to plan around GBHL.
GBHL is associated with Mombasa tycoon Mohamed Jaffer who at the time enjoyed the backing of handshake and is currently trying to get his grip back with Ruto who appears to be going after his businesses monopoly.
It goes further to poke holes into leasing and extension of leases within Nairobi Railway city, “Mr. Mainga recommended for leasing and extension of leases for Kenya Railway land with a full knowledge that there was ongoing development Nairobi Railway City master plan by Kenya Railway and Nairobi County Government.” It states.
Leasing of SGR Nairobi Station area, Syokimau Station, and adjoining areas, “Mr. Maingi recommended for leasing of over hundred (100) acres of Kenya Railway land with the full knowledge that there was ongoing development plan which was being undertaken by Kenya Railways, Ministry of Lands, County Government of Nairobi and Machakos County.”
Next: IRREGULAR PROCUREMENT AND SALE OF LAND L.R NO. 1/450 DUNDEE COURT BY KENYA RAILWAYS STAFF RETIREMENT BENEFITS SCHEME.
Ijara Constituency has been struggling with lack of progress and development stagnation for a long time but the fate of the great men and women of this wonderful Constituency is poised to change courtesy of the current MP who i will fondly referr to as Hon Sheikhow.
This youthful , energetic and passionate man has been some sort of a revelation and a blessing to the great people of Ijara and Garissa region by extension. He has shown us that if we entrust leadership position to visionary and development minded individuals then we are poised to thrive as a society. He has once again shown us that we can rid our region of insecurity, unemployment, under development and illiteracy, and obliterate the borders separating clan from clan, tribe from another tribe etc. He has manifested to all and sundry that leadership is not about how large your tribe is or how fat your pocket is.
Hon Sheikhow has embarked on a journey. A journey to make Ijara one of the best developed constituencies in Kenya. His blueprint and plans for the area is wonderful. Saying its a hope instilling is gross understatement.
This man deserves unopposed second term and third term and probably a fourth term. What earns someone to be elected and re-elected again is their agenda which honestly Hon Sheikhow has. Its about vision, which the MP has in abundance.
I have studied Hon Sheikhow closely. He is a true definition of a great leader who is poised to scale up the height of leadership and be successful. Looking at his development record, it’s apparent that the current member of Parliament is gradually becoming a great leader.
He has not been personal but passionate about his people. His opponents want him look personal and engage them in their empty rhetoric.
The Nairobi West Hospital unveiled a game-changing radiotherapy machine that can treat up to 100 patients a day.
The Nairobi West Hospital’s Halcyon-system, is an entirely new machine for cancer treatment and the only one in Kenya. It is not only designed to expand the availability of high-quality cancer care globally, but to significantly cut treatment time compared to other traditional forms of radiotherapy.
Prof. Andrew Gachie, chief medical officer at the hospital, said the department currently conducts 10,000 sessions a year. “Every year, this number is projected to increase. It is estimated that there will be more than 25 million global cancer cases diagnosed annually by 2030, and there is an acute shortage of equipment and trained clinicians locally. Up to 60 per cent of these patients will require radiotherapy as part of their treatment.”
The Halcyon machine looks a lot like a CT scanner, and it virtually makes no noise, said Prof. Gachie.Everything is contained inside the machine, which makes it much safer. A full treatment can be done within two minutes. This is four times faster than traditional radiotherapy treatments.
This radiotherapy machine provides more efficient and convenient cancer treatment. The high-quality image guidance of the Halcyon is able to deliver a higher dose of radiation to the right areas to target cancer precisely, while avoiding areas unaffected by cancer. “Patient information is fed into the machine and positions the bed automatically into the precise position needed. This is important because one does not want healthy tissues to receive radiation.”
The machine also has an image guidance system which allows the health workers to take an image of the area they want to treat, while the patient is lying on the bed. They then fuse the image with the planning CT images, taken before the time. This allows accurate verification of the patient’s position during every treatment session. It is particularly important for patients who are treated in areas where soft tissues and organs move with daily physiological changes. This ensures minimal radiation to these areas.
A patient who had received treatment already, Melody Ochieng, a breast cancer survivor said, “The experience with this machine is very different, it is so much faster, so much better. And of-course the staff is very professional and compassionate which were very vital in my healing journey.”
As a result of its ability to provide a higher dose of targeted radiation therapy, patients benefit from fewer treatments depending on the type of cancer. Since the machine delivers radiation more quickly this means shorter appointment times. As a result of this efficient treatment, patients can save time and travel, as well as money, by coming in for fewer appointments compared to other conventional radiotherapy treatments.
The hospital confirmed that it offers services at the same rates as other facilities with no hidden costs, in spite of their importation of the expensive state-of-art cancer battling machine. “Our Halcyon machine is still the one of its kind in the country, and we brought it in with the singular idea of saving Kenyans with cancer the cost of going to India to get treatment, not to mention the costs of travel and accommodation (for the patient and their families),” said Prof. Gachie.
According to the hospital, Halcyon is well suited to handle the majority of cancer patients, offering advanced treatments for prostate, breast, head and neck, and many other forms of cancer.
The anti-graft agency is closing in on senior officers at the troubled West Kano Rice Irrigation Scheme over alleged embezzlement of Sh54.3 million meant for farmers.
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) boss Twalib Mbarak said the agency has completed investigations into the matter. Appearing before the Senate Agriculture committee chaired by Kirinyaga Senator James Murango, Mr Mbarak said they will press charges against officials of the scheme found culpable of pilfering the funds.
“The field investigations are complete and are now under review. We are in the process of reviewing to inform appropriate recommendations,” said the EACC boss.
The development follows a petition claiming massive embezzlement of the farmers’ money by the management of the scheme.
Petitioner Patrick Ochieng, appearing before the committee last month, accused the EACC Western region officers of inaction despite reporting misappropriation of funds released to the scheme by the government. He alleged that the scheme received millions of shillings from the government between 2007 and 2021 for rehabilitation, economic stimulus package, farmers’ savings and rice sales.
The petitioner claimed that between 2009 and 2015, the government released Sh86 million, with the farmers’ savings totalling Sh18 million.
The expenditure of Sh54.3 million, Mr Ochieng said, cannot be accounted for by the management under the West Kano Irrigation Farmers Revolving Fund. He said that the revolving fund was an umbrella body for 59 self-help groups and was meant to advance cash to farmers for transplanting, weeding and harvesting.
The revelations prompted the Senate committee to launch investigations into the alleged graft at the scheme.
Mr Ochieng had pleaded with the committee to recommend a forensic audit of all the officials involved in the management of the scheme between 2007 and 2021 as well as to help set up a team of experts to identify gaps in the current scheme management system.
EACC stated that the scheme received a grant of Sh54.3 million under the Economic Stimulus Programme in the financial year ended June 30, 2010 to be advanced to farmers to improve rice production.
Mr Mbarak defended the commission saying that they are understaffed and lack adequate resources to complete investigations in time. He said they had received more than 9,000 cases on corruption including bribery and other petty offences, some very negligible, yet they are understaffed and operating with very little resources.
“We have visited other jurisdictions and the best practice is that they investigate only serious cases. Here, we get more than 9,000 cases,” said Mr Mbarak.
Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are looking into the death of Ms Elizabeth Wanjiru Githingi, a preacher who was found dead at the home of Kikuyu gospel musician Mirugi Dishon.
Ms Wanjiru, 38, a Nakuru-based pastor, had met the musician in August last year and they fell in love.
Her death came just a day after Mr Mirugi held a crusade in Juja, Kiambu County, through his church known as Flying Eagle International Ministry.
Mirugi’s ex-flame, Elizabeth, paid him a visit at his Kahawa West home on Saturday, according to a statement recorded at Kiamumbi police station on Saturday.
A detective privy to the investigations yesterday told local newspaper that Ms Wanjiru was in the musician’s home to sort out some differences.
“They had not known each other for a very long time but had some issues, it was because of this that the woman left Nakuru for Nairobi to have word with Mr Mirugi with the hope of making things right,” said the officer who spoke with the newspaper.
Love Triangle
The detective however pointed to a possible love triangle as the musician has also been linked to Esther Wangura, CEO Lesedi Developers Ltd. He appears to have left Ms Wanjiru who was equally rich and boosted his finances for even a more monied Ms Esther.
He told the officers that she had brought his suit from Nakuru but that when she arrived at his house, she decided to clean both his house and his clothes because they were filthy.
Esther Wangura, CEO Lesedi Developers Ltd
He went on to say that while she was cleaning, he left the house to run errands on Thika Road.
According to the statement, he returned home soon after because he couldn’t reach Elizabeth on her phone.
Mirungi claims that when he returned home, he discovered Elizabeth in his wardrobe, appearing to have hung herself with a bedsheet.
He claims he untied the body and transferred it to his car before driving to the Jacaranda Maternity Home.
According to the police statement, medics at Jacaranda refused to pick up Elizabeth’s body because she was already dead.
He then drove to Kiamumbi police station with the body still in his car, but officers told him to report the incident to Kahawa West.
Officers at Kahawa West police station refused to pick up the body and instead advised him to report the incident to Kasarani police station.
The situation was no different at Kasarani police station, where officers also declined to pick up the body, explaining to him that he should have reported the discovery immediately.
He was allowed to take the body to the Kenyatta University Mortuary on Saturday evening after shuffling between police stations with the body in his car.
The musician returned to Kasarani police station on Sunday to record a statement about Elizabeth’s death, accompanied by DCI homicide detectives who have taken over the investigations.
According to reports, apart from preaching and making music, Mr Mirugi was also engaged in the real estate business where he sold plots of land along Garissa Road at Sh230,000 a piece.
Other land deals he is engaged in include Success Gardens in Kithimani in Machakos County where he sells 50 feet by 100 feet plots for Sh230,000 cash price or Sh250,000 in installments.
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