Nyeri County officials spend second night in jail

Former Nyeri County executives John Maina (Lands), Martin Wamwea (Finance) and Chief of Staff Simon Wachira follow the judgement before they were jailed for corruption on Monday. The 3 spent their second night in prison after their families failed to raise a Sh20 million fine. (PHOTO: MOSE SAMMY/ STANDARD)

Three senior Nyeri County officials jailed for corruption spent their second night in prison after their families failed to raise a Sh20 million fine.

Former executives John Maina (Lands) and Martin Wamwea (Finance), and Chief of Staff Simon Wachira were jailed on Monday after they were found guilty of irregular tendering worth Sh10 million that led to the loss of Sh3.75 million.

Their lawyers yesterday made frantic efforts to secure their freedom to no avail. Lawyer Edward Oonge filed an urgent application at the Nyeri Law Courts seeking to have the three released on bond pending an appeal.

The three, currently at King'ong'o Prison, are required to pay Sh24 million failure to which they will spend three years each in jail.

They asked for non-custodial sentences after being found guilty. Maina said he has a young family that depends on him while Wachira said he is sick, but the magistrate would hear none of it.

The former officials were allowed some time with their families before they were instructed to surrender personal properties, including cellphones, and ushered into the cells.

The decision by Chief Magistrate John Onyiego to jail the three after a two-year trial now paves the way for Governor Nderitu Gachagua to appoint substantive office holders.

Nearly half of the slots in the county government are unoccupied and current office bearers are serving in acting capacities.

Keeping top county government officials, including ministers, in acting capacities was one of the grounds MCAs impeached the governor before the Senate reinstated him.

Senior county officials The Standard talked to could not divulge when Gachagua, who is reportedly out of the country for medical check-up, would fill the vacant positions.

A source in Gachagua's office said the officials, including County Secretary Alice Wachira, are waiting for the governor to give direction.

Some leaders said the ruling, seen as the harshest ever, is a step in the right direction in the war against corruption.

MCAs Baragu Mutahi and Jesse Kamuri said the ruling should serve as a warning to leaders who misappropriate public resources and hope to get away with it.

They said the ruling has also vindicated the county assembly accused of making fictitious accusations against the governor to impeach him.

The Senate overturned the impeachment two weeks ago, arguing claims against Gachagua did not meet the constitutional threshold to warrant his impeachment.

Mutahi, the chairman of Public Accounts Committee, called for investigations and prosecution of those behind disappearance of about Sh1.5 billion. The county government has reportedly failed to account for the money said to have disappeared over the last three years.

"We don't understand why the Senate failed to take our case seriously yet a lot of money has been lost. In 2013-14 financial year alone, almost Sh700 million was unaccounted for and the matter was also raised by the Auditor General," said Mutahi who was the main architect of the impeachment motion against Gachagua.

Kamuri said the county assembly will also start pursuing executives implicated in corruption. "We have been vindicated. The Senate was unanimous that there was a case of mismanagement of funds yet they let the governor off the hook," said Kamuri.

The Wamagana MCA reiterated that the assembly will embark on pursuing individual county executives or any staff members, including the governor, who bear individual responsibility for mismanaging public funds, "until we root out corruption".