NAIROBI: The rot at the National Youth Service (NYS) points to a rot deeper than the list of individuals initially named in an interim report by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
NYS insiders for the first time allude to the involvement of top politicians from the ruling Jubilee coalition through intimidation and suspension of junior officers.
Multiple interviews paint a picture of greed at the ruling Jubilee coalition that saw the NYS pie cut into half with each resulting half going to businessmen linked to either side of the coalition.
Through a series of proxies and newly-created companies, the money paid out to the suppliers would eventually end up at bank accounts of the proxies where huge chunks would later be withdrawn in cash to unknown destinations.
LEASED EQUIPMENT
Through name-dropping, these proxies would go back on initial contracts with the NYS and defer payments by invoking the names of those doing their bidding.
For instance, three companies associated with one individual contracted to supply both hard and soft building materials from quarries in Rongai and Njiru, hired extraction machinery from the NYS for purposes of control and management of the workflow on the agreement that the companies would reimburse the service for the duration of works.
However, they received their payments without factoring the cost of leased equipment under instruction from a higher office at the Ministry of Devolution.
Workers at the service say during the duration through which some of the flagship NYS projects such as the slum upgrading project ran, suspensions and reprimands from the Devolution headquarters were the order of the day for officers who dared to stick to the books and demand accountability or asked any questions with regard to questionable LPOs or delivery notes.
At some point during the upgrading projects, money was being paid out to contractors without proper verification of the goods supplied, resulting in massive over payments or possibility of payments for substandard products.
This, the insiders say, was because of mounting pressure from the ministry due to the significance that the NYS projects had in the presidency’s grand scheme of things, and completion was “to be achieved at all cost,” eventually resulting in the massive leakage at the service. At least this is what junior officers were told by their bosses.
TOP LEADERSHIP
One of those indicted by the CID is Ben Gethi Wangui, who is thought to be linked to all those involved.
He is said to have a long working history with the service. But this is not the only business Gethi has handled at Ruaraka. He has also been linked with the importation of the infamous election kits for the IEBC which landed in Kenya long after the elections had been held. He is closely associated with a URP senior politician.
Some NYS members of staff also say that whenever a large tender or payment is at stake, Gethi, when making his collection rounds, is always accompanied by a former aide to the said senior politician.
With this, even the much-touted IFMIS system, it would appear, stood no chance in the wake of an all-out assault by government bigwigs and individuals connected to the country’s top leadership.
