PHOTO CAPTION: Chief Executive of Huduma Kenya, James Muhati. An anonymous whistleblower has called out corruption and mismanagement of funds at the Huduma Centre Secretariat.
The administrative entity headed by CEO James Buyekane enjoys a budget of over Sh1Bn, but as the insider reveals, the situation on the ground paints an entirely different picture.
It is reported that a cabal of greedy directors and programme officers are holding all the 52 Huduma Centers hostage.
They control the finance, service delivery and procurement departments.
Everything is procured from Nairobi.
This often leads to extended delays in the delivery of critical basic items such as pins, pencils, and printing papers, which sometimes arrive over three months late.
There is an increasing feeling of demotivation as staff grapple with delayed salaries and poor job infrastructure.
The structures housing the centres look severely depleted.
Chairs are broken and technology on the old computers is nearly obsolete.
Even the fuelling of vehicles has become a challenge for managers across the country.
Funds allocated to the Secretariat are siphoned above the chain and never trickle down where they are needed. "Hello Nyakundi, Huduma Kenya Secretariat runs Huduma Centres across the country, and it's headed one James Buyekane, the CEO. At face value, Huduma Centres appear to be doing well. This is far from the truth. Deeper scrutiny reveals an institution riddled with corruption, poor management and high-handedness. Annually, the Secretariat is allocated a budget of KES. 1 Billion to run its operations. However, its technological infrastructure at the Centres is over 17 years, as was left by Gov. Waiguru. They're old and most are obsolete. In a nutshell, most of these facilities are in a sorry state, including chairs, computers, buildings, etc. Staff deployed to these centres are demotivated, with no social welfare programmes. Delayed salaries for the contracted staff is the order of the day. The only staff entitled to extraneous allowance are those deployed from the Ministry of Interior. When these issues are raised, you're told to "play your league". There is a cartel of directors and programme officers within the Secretariat who have overstayed there and are hell-bent on scuttling processes and activities at the 52 Huduma Centres across the country. This cabal of people control the finance, service delivery and procurement departments. They have fought tooth and nail for decentralized procurement to the Counties that would be efficient and even benefit the local growing businesses. They award themselves tenders using proxy companies for kickbacks. These cabal supply even tissue paper from Nairobi to Mandera. Meaning, staff at various Centres have to wait for critical basic items such as pins, pencils, and printing papers from Nairobi which can be received 3 months late. In its budget, the Secretariat allocates over KES. 300 million for Huduma field service activities (known as Huduma Mashinani). This fund is mismanaged and do not get to Managers on the ground for the said activities. In a more interesting scenario, about KES. 500,000 is allocated for coffins for staff when unfortunately one passes on. However, nothing is received from the Secretariat towards this. These are just the tip of the iceberg. In summary, Huduma Kenya operates just like the way other state departments have been operating in this Country where funds are allocated at the source and disappear at the source, leaving field officers with little to nothing to even fuel vehicles for field activities. Kindly highlight these issues. Thanks in advance," the source writes.