Drama as Immigration boss collapses at Integrity Centre

Director of Immigration Jane Waikenda.

By JACOB NG’ETICH, KURIAN MUSA and CYRUS OMBATI

There was drama after the Director of Immigration Jane Waikenda collapsed at Integrity Centre moments after she was arrested by anticorruption officers investigating an alleged irregular issuance of work permits to foreigners at her department.

Ms Waikenda was rushed to the Nairobi Hospital, where she was admitted after the incident at the entrance to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption (EACC) offices in Nairobi. EACC officers had picked her from her Nyayo House office at around 11am for interrogation.

EACC Spokesman Yasin Amaro confirmed that they were unable to grill Waikenda after she developed health complications at the EACC offices.

“Our investigators had gone to pick her up to explain allegations of irregular issuance of work permits to foreigners, mostly of Asian origin. However, she developed health complications and was rushed and admitted to the Nairobi Hospital,” said Amaro.

Two other Immigration Department officials are also being sought to respond to the same allegations.

Security personnel in Nairobi Hospital confirmed receiving Waikenda at the medical facility.

Hospital’s Correspondence

“She is being attended to by the matron-in-charge, and she cannot allow anyone to see the patient. Her condition is that she cannot be interviewed now,” said a security officer who sought anonymity.

A nurse who spoke to The Standard and KTN reporters said a relative would come out to speak on behalf of Waikenda, but none turned up.

The guard then escorted the journalists to the gate, saying the hospital management will only allow the press at the facility Friday after consulting her family and when the patient is in a position to speak.

The Standard spotted relatives and friends carrying flowers to Waikenda’s ward.

At the time of going to press, sources said she had been given the all-clear and discharged.

Investigators, according to sources, are investigating how about 300 work permits were issued to foreigners, mostly from China and India.

When she was appointed last July, Waikenda engaged the EACC to conduct an audit, institute an integrity test and investigate cases of corruption in the department.

“This will ensure all loopholes are sealed and that corruption is dealt with accordingly in the Department. There will be a major reshuffle of Immigration officers on a regular, rotational basis to address complacency in the service,” she had told The Standard.

On work permits, Waikenda ordered her staff to only consider individuals with skills and qualifications that were not readily available in the country.

Prior to her appointment by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Waikenda was the administrative secretary at the Kenya Police Service. She also served as the deputy secretary at Kenya Prisons Service. She had previously worked at the Immigration Department as deputy secretary.

Upon her appointment, Waikenda announced that all staff would be audited by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to ensure that they were of high integrity.

Official uniforms

She directed that all Immigration officers wear official uniforms during working hours, so as to easily identify genuine employees.

In July 2012, the then Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’, in a special Gazette notice, raised the bar for foreigners seeking work permits for jobs earning them Sh160,000 per month or Sh2 million per year.

The notice also barred foreigners below the age of 35 from being issued with work permits.

According to a source at Immigration, there are about 15,000 Chinese and Indian nationals who hold Kenyan work permits.

Although details on the investigation were scanty last night, some officials who sought anonymity said Waikenda might have been set up by cartels at unhappy with the manner in which she was running the show.

“She has been hands-on in matters to do with Immigration and in particular work permits, which many believed were being issued to undeserving cases,” said an official aware of the intrigues.

Most agree that Waikenda has instituted major operational changes since coming into office with the slogan ‘Fast Service Delivery’.

However, hundreds of foreigners have complained that their permits were being cancelled by Immigration officials and issued to others.

According to Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku, the Department had by last October issued 850,000 visas, 29,374 work permits and registered 19,710 foreigners.

He said work permits issued to undeserving foreigners would be revoked.

It was around the same time that 15 senior officers were sacked, in a move Ole Lenku said was aimed at purging bad apples and reforming one of the government departments adjudged to be among the most corrupt. The officers however moved to court and obtained orders reinstating them to office.

Following the September 21 Westgate Mall terror attack, investigations revealed massive fraud in the issuing of identification documents to foreigners, with people paying as little as Sh40,000 for the crucial papers.

The deals involved top officials and it was feared that such loopholes allowed the Somali terror group Al-Shabaab to send killers to Kenya through the refugee camps.