Lamu West CDF officials acquitted

CORRUPTION-EACC-LAMU WEST MP-NDEGWA-GRILLED; Lamu West Mp Julius Ndegwa addresses  the Media  after being grilled at the Ethics and Anti Corruption offices in Mombasa County on Monday,013th April,2015. The Mp who is among those Officials named in the Corruption list was being interviewed by Anti Corruption officers on CDF related issues from his Constituency.[PHOTO BY MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

Mombasa, Kenya: A court in Mombasa has acquitted three members of the Lamu West Constituency Development Fund (CDF) committee who had been charged with misappropriating money from the fund.

Ali Ahmed alias Bausi, Abdalla Famau and Lali Shee were accused by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) of allowing the purchase of three tractors and three disc-ploughs worth seven million shillings without following the right procurement procedures.

The court had been told the alleged crime was committed in 2007 when the officers willingly failed to comply with the laws relating to procurement of public assets, including open tendeing.

But yesterday, Mombasa Chief Magistrate Maxwell Gicheru found the three not guilty saying they were not aware of the regulations and relied on technical advice from procurement officers.

"I acquit the accused under section 225 of the Criminal Procedure Code because the respondents are blameless as they were depending on the advice of Government officers," said Mr Gicheru.

ESCAPE BLAME

He said the case raises more questions than answers which should have been delved into before it was brought to court.

Gicheru questioned why the new committee that took over after the three accused were dismissed from office failed to testify in the case.

"Why did the three get in court yet it was the procurement officers who were signing off the purchase and they got to escape the blame?" questioned Gicheru.

The court further ruled that there was no money lost in the process of procuring the machinery.

In his testimony, Investigating Officer Abraham Kemboi said he received numerous complaints from different people about the project in West Lamu that regulations were not being followed.

Mr Kemboi said the trucks procured by the three respondents become obsolete after one year.

In their defence, Ahmed said he never knew much about procurement and depended on the procurement and agriculture officers, Famau said he never prepared any pricing of the tractors and ploughs and there was never any loss of funds in the procurement process, while Shee said she relied on Government officers to give directions on procuring the machines and the machines had been delivered.