This archive report was first published on 19 September 2019.
Published on September 19, 2019, an investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) into Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has uncovered a complex web of corruption involving the Governor and several companies.
At the center of the investigation are allegations of bribery and theft of county revenue orchestrated by Governor Sonko in an elaborate scheme that involved the use of cronies and foreign bank accounts.
According to sources, Governor Sonko had pocketed EACC detectives to ensure no investigations into his grand looting scheme were initiated. However, a group of disgruntled County Executive Committee Members (CECs) and Members of County Assembly (MCAs) had no option but to turn to media houses, sending their dossiers on garbage collection tenders in a bid to go above the heads of the corrupt EACC detectives.
The exposé caught the eye of EACC boss Twalib Mbarak, who immediately ordered that investigations commence, setting in motion events that have seen Governor Sonko disappear from the public, possibly realizing how his greed has finally caught up with him.
The investigations centered on the award of garbage tenders for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years. In the preliminary stages of the investigation, EACC grilled the Governor to find answers on why companies like Aende Group were awarded tenders despite not being qualified to deliver.
Aende Group Director Derrick Aende admitted that at the time his firm was bidding for the solid waste collection tender, it had no prior experience in the industry, but the personnel had. He also revealed that the company had only 15 secretariat members and 52 stewards against a required 200 stewards to clean the 2km-square Nairobi central business district.
It also emerged that Aende Group, which beat three others to the contract, had only existed for 78 days, as opposed to at least one year required to qualify for the tender.
The Governor's woes were compounded by EACC's discovery of Ksh20 million in kickbacks wired into his accounts from firms that got awarded the flawed tenders. Other firms that have been roped into the investigations are Amaco Insurance, Hardi Enterprises, and Yiro Enterprises.
The monies, which moved between some seven companies in a complex web, is a puzzle the EACC has been trying to unravel. However, the Governor is trying to derail the investigations by stepping up bribery of detectives and intimidation of those keen to build a case against him.
The investigations also led detectives to accounts held by his cronies in Dubai, where billions of shillings from the new revenue collection system accounts at National Bank of Kenya are wired and used to buy high-end properties.
Sources claim that Governor Sonko has managed to get to EACC director in charge of investigations, Mr. Abdi Mohamud, getting him to slow down the pace of investigations, hoping that the matter will die a natural death.
Through the Majority Leader Abdi Guyo, the Governor approached Mohamud with Ksh10 million in cash, setting in motion the lull in investigations into the massive corruption at Nairobi County.
Furthermore, in a bid to further threaten officers who may want to go above Mohamud's head at EACC, the Governor has moved into the home of cronies of President Kenyatta's personal assistant Jomo Gecaga at Riverside Drive, in what appears to be an attempt to shield himself from arrest.
Some CECs who got fired after refusing to tow the line include former Finance executive Danvas Makori, former County Secretary Peter Kariuki, former County Attorney Lydia Kwamboka, and former Health chief officer Mahat Jimale.
It remains to be seen whether the DCI will intervene to ensure that justice is done.
