This archive report was first published on 22 July 2019.
On July 22, 2019, the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji ordered the arrest of Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and other top government officials over the multibillion-shilling Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal.
The scandal involved the awarding of a tender to the bankrupt Italian firm CMC Di Ravenna, which was supposed to finance the Arror and Kimwarer dams project.
However, the Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) and the National Treasury went ahead to spend Sh20.5 billion of taxpayers' money on the ghost projects, despite the contract stipulating that the Italian firm was to dig into its own pockets to complete the projects.
The National Treasury instead shopped for expensive loans in Italy and spent Sh20.5 billion for which Cabinet approval was sought.
The dams were strongly opposed by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), which owned the tracts of forest-covered land that was acquired for the ghost projects.
The National Environmental Management Authority approved the projects, despite the opposition from the KFS.
