This archive report was first published on 9 August 2019.
August 9, 2019, marked the beginning of a contentious saga surrounding the relocation of Mumboha Secondary School in Luanda. The school's board of management chairman, Joel Murwa Enane, has denied any involvement in the relocation plan.
According to sources, a section of the Luanda National Government Constituency Development Fund Committee is alleged to be using the project to make millions of shillings in kickbacks. The board has invited the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the matter, with a letter addressed to CEO Twalib Mbarak.
The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) wants the secondary school relocated from its current seven-acre land adjacent to Luanda market. In the proposed plan, three and a half acres would be set aside for the construction of a polytechnic and the expansion of the market.
However, the Vihiga County Education Board, led by County Education Secretary Hellen Nyang'au, has opposed the project, citing that the procedures to relocate a public school and the conditions stipulated have not been followed. The Education Ministry, led by Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, has also not been involved in the decision-making process.
Furthermore, the school board, National Lands Commission, and locals have not been consulted. The area MP, Chris Omulele, wrote a letter to the county education board last year, but it was rejected due to the lack of involvement from key stakeholders and the National Lands Commission.
The petition to EACC has raised eyebrows, particularly the fact that the MP and his NGCDF committee awarded a tender to a contractor to build a new school, despite the relocation issue not being finalized. The contractor is close to constituency manager Sylvia Atsango, and it has emerged that NGCDF operatives misled Mumboha Primary School management committee to approve a half an acre to be hived off to construct the secondary unit.
