This archive report was first published on 25 October 2019.
On October 25, 2019, police arrested an engineer and three contractors overseeing a stalled Sh1.2 billion road project in Machakos county.
The project, launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017, aimed to upgrade the 40-kilometer Ekalakala-Matuu road in Machakos county.
Esther Mwangi, a Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) engineer, and contractors Zebedeo Opore, Simon Kaingo, and Richard Ombati were taken into custody by Machakos police, led by County Commander John Karanja.
The quartet was questioned about the project's stalled progress, with allegations of graft and financial mismanagement emerging.
According to sources, the main contractor, Kitho Civil and Engineering Company Limited, had received over Sh100 million in advance payment from the government but failed to complete the project.
The project's committee, formed through a Presidential Executive Order, was chaired by Machakos County Commissioner Esther Maina and included Larry Mulomi, a director of the President's Delivery Unit.
Some sections of the road had been graded but were impassable due to overgrowth, while others showed signs of recent clearance and grading works.
The two subcontractors, Zedjay Investments Limited and Tekwara Services Limited, had started work on the project in July 2019, but the main contractor had allegedly dragged the names of top managers at KeRRA to secure the lucrative tender despite lacking the capacity to complete the project.
