This archive report was first published on 11 September 2019.
Residents of Nyeri have called for a full-scale investigation into the unmasking of a major scandal at the county government, where Sh754,000 was deposited into personal accounts of two staff members to pay ghost participants at an inter-county sports event in Kericho in August 2019.
According to impeccable sources, various departments at the Nyeri county government were represented at the sports event, but the office of the governor cancelled the names of six persons from the office of the deputy governor, Wanjiru Karugu, who were listed as participants at the event. The last-minute cancellation of the names was not explained.
It has emerged that the six staff members from the office of the deputy governor were allocated the money for their food, accommodation, and allowances. The money was deposited in the personal account of the driver of the deputy governor at Kenya Commercial Bank on August 12, 2019. However, the driver received an urgent phone call from a senior staff in the governor's office not to withdraw the money and wait for further instructions.
On August 19, 2019, the same senior staff called the deputy governor's driver and instructed him to withdraw the same amount of money and deposit it into the county government's revenue account with a local branch bank account.
Similarly, Sh416,000 county government's money was deposited in the account of one staff member in the communications department and was to be withdrawn and given out as per diem to fellow members of the staff in that department.
Further, our sources aver that Governor Mutahi Kahiga and his deputy Wanjiru Karugu are not reading from the same script over numerous outstanding issues that have not been resolved. Among other issues, instructions have been given from the office of the gubernatorial boss to deny the personal assistant to the deputy governor a county government official vehicle when he is on official duties.
