by Adow Jubat and Cyrus Ombati

Two chiefs in Ijara District of North Eastern Province were arrested at the weekend in connection with a scam involving selling national identity cards to foreigners.

The scam, which was exposed by The Standard’s Crime, Court and Investigations (CCI) Magazine last month, involves massive selling of IDs to foreigners mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia.

The national document is sold at between Sh30,000 and Sh50,000 in Ijara, Mandera, Wajir and Garissa by the same Government officials and elders sitting in vetting committees mandated to screen non-Kenyans from accessing the document.

PC James ole Serian said chief Aden Ali of Masalani Division and his assistant Yassin Farah were picked from their homes on Sunday night after investigation pointed at them as key suspects.

"The administrators have been found to be conspiring with foreigners. The chiefs have misused the trust placed upon them by the Government to identify Kenyans during the issuing of IDs. They instead took money from non-Kenyans and cleared them to get the document," the PC said.

Speaking to The Standard in Garissa town, Mr Serian said the chiefs were being held at Masalani police station and will appear in court in Hola on Monday. Another chief is being sought over the same crime.

Consequently Serian suspended issuing of IDs in the region and dis banded Ijara and Mandera vetting committees.

Elsewhere, two provincial administrators were arrested over allegations that they received bribes from businessmen in Rift Valley and Nairobi.

Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission officers arrested a DC in Nakuru and a chief in Buru Buru, Nairobi, as they were receiving money.

KACC Public Relations Officer Nicolas Simani said the DC also reportedly used threats while demanding Sh20,000 a week bribe from the businessman, while the chief wanted Sh70,000 protection fee.