How Kenyans Are Losing Millions Through Water Sector Trust Fund

The Water Sector Trust Fund has become one of Kenya’s biggest cash cows where millions of shillings from the government end up in individual pockets.

Auditor General’s report exposes questionable financial dealings at WSTF, linking CEO Willis Ombai to multi-million shilling disbursement scandals.

The fund, established specifically to coordinate funding for water bodies across the country, has become the focal point for water cartels within the Water Ministry and government water parastatals where millions of taxpayer’s money get diverted.

On the spot is Willis Ombai who is the Chief Executive Officer at WSTF which receives billions of shillings in funding.

Willis in collaboration with cartels in the sector has been running the parastatal as his own entity amidst corruption allegations.

The office of the CEO had severally been called out over impunity with Ombai coming out as an outspoken CEO who brags to be an untouchable rich kid who has protection from the powers that be.

Our investigations have linked him to various conspiracies, including a scheme to loot over Ksh 37 million.

This as per the Auditor General’s report for the FY 2021/2022 where WSTF is accused of deliberately disbursing an additional Ksh 37,182,159 to Noltuesh Water under the CLSG programme with a questionable Ksh 5,467,479 uncounted for.

Another audit query for FY2021/2022 indicates that the water fund disbursed Ksh 24,650,000 to Amatsi Water Services Company Limited while investigations were still ongoing on Ksh 26,659,238 advanced to them in FY2020/2021.

Interestingly, the audit states that the total outstanding receivable balance for Amatsi Water was Ksh 51,309,238 million as at 30 July 2022, raising more questions on the ground for cooperation between the two institutions.

The audit states that there was blatant lack of a cost allocation policy for overhead costs incurred. It further states that there were instances where WSTF charged fuel and rent costs to donors.

For fuel, the payment was made to replenish a fuel card but there was no evidence that the expenditure was directly related to the project against which it was charged.

For rent expenses, WSTF charged bills to the EU project without a clear and consistent basis as to why WSTF allocated this amount to the various projects.

The water fund is also on the spot over Ksh 53,89,585 million arising from project expenditure incurred by implementing partners.