This archive report was first published on 2 July 2021.
On August 22, 2019, a silver metallic Toyota Fortuner (GKB 193V) belonging to the State Department for University Education was allegedly stolen in a carjacking incident in Nairobi's Buruburu estate.
The vehicle had been assigned to the ACE II project in Naivasha under the Director of University Education.
According to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu's audit of the accounts of the State Department for University Education for the 2018/19 financial year, the loss was flagged.
University Education Principal Secretary Simon Nabukwesi appeared before the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, which is considering the audit report, and blamed the failure to recover the vehicle on the slow pace of investigations by DCI officers.
"The investigating officers have taken too long to conclude the matter," Mr Nabukwesi told the committee.
Mr Nabukwesi also told the committee that the man who was driving the vehicle when it was stolen, Vincent Abwao Mukobe, has since been dismissed from government employment.
However, committee members wondered how a government vehicle would just disappear into thin air, even with the elaborate investigative machinery at the government's disposal.
"The only issue we have is that you have chosen to go for the small fish and leave out the big fish. A driver will hardly drive away outside the official hours. Where was he going? Who authorised him?" committee member Opiyo Wandayi posed.
Lawmakers were told that Mr Mukobe was driving the vehicle after 5pm, beyond official working hours, without authority.
Failure to recover the vehicle means that taxpayers will have to foot the cost of the loss.
