I was sacrificial lamb, says Bernard Kiala as he exposes Machakos 'family affairs'

Machakos Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala maintains his seat after Senate defeated an impeachment motion against him.

The impeachment proceedings against Machakos Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala last week have ended up exposing another side of Machakos County leadership unbeknown to Kenyans.

When Mr Kiala showed up before the Mutahi Kagwe-led Senate committee, he took all the 40 minutes allotted to him to contextualise the allegations leveled against him by the Machakos County Assembly.

So explosive was Kiala‘s “opening statement” that lawyer Kioko Kilukumi for the County Assembly raised objections against it. Mr Kagwe, however, dismissed the objections and allowed the Deputy Governor to speak. In a statement obtained by The Standard on Sunday, Kiala lists a litany of “substantive issues of governance” that he said were “at the very bottom“ of his problems with the County Assembly and County Government of Machakos.

The first issue he raised was the appointment of the county executive committee (Cabinet) on April 11, last year, contrary to the County Government Act that requires that the County Assembly approves them first. “The County Assembly did not approve the appointments as at then, but later after several months in the office,” he told the Senate committee.

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He said the County Chief Officers were appointed in a similar manner without involvement of the County Public Service Board and the County Assembly. Another “156 Senior County Government officials” were appointed in a similar manner.

According to Kiala, there were no advertisements to reach a wide population of potential applicants and there was no County Public Service Board in place at the time. “The list of the Chief Officers was approved by the County Assembly last month, July, 2014 after having been in office for more than one year and in charge of public funds,” he said.

The other “Senior County Government officials” are yet to be confirmed by the board but they still continue to draw salaries at scales that are not commensurate to their qualifications, Kiala claimed. Kiala also revisited the matter of the 15 Subaru Outback cars at the centre of Auditor General’s queries as well as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. Kiala claimed that while 10 were allocated to the Cabinet members, the remaining five were given to Governor Dr Alfred Mutua‘s “own appointed officers.”

“He also purchased one Toyota Land Cruiser 4700cc VX for himself, all used secondhand vehicles in contravention of the Public Finance and Management Act 2012 and the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005,” he told the Senate.

Kiala also brought to the alert of the Senate the activities of a revenue officer in Mavoko County. He testified that a revenue collection sub-committee had unearthed a lot of irregularities in revenue collection involving the said officer and he shared findings with his boss.

“Before the committee could present its report, the Governor disbanded it and up to today this report remains in my County Executive Committee file, which I now have got no access to,“ he said. Kiala tabled two contradictory circulars on the officer.

One circular dated May 6, 2014 by County Secretary Francis Mwaka, on behalf of Governor Alfred Mutua and the Public service board appoints the officer as the Sub County Administrator at Mavoko.

The other circular dated May 29, 2014 by vice chair of Machakos County Public Service Board Dorothy Mwanzia refutes the earlier circular by Mwaka saying the board “was not involved in the appointment” of the officer as well as three others.

“When I pointed out this irregularity to the Governor, and also the fact that I had adversely mentioned him in my executive sub-committee report and the fact that he was irregularly appointed, the Governor could not hear any of it,” Kiala said.

But it is Kiala‘s testimony on alleged nepotism in the County Government that would be shocking, if found out to be true. He tabled a list of 30 senior and junior officials whom he claimed were closely related to each other.

Kiala‘s evidence

Musyoka Kala, the Chief Officer in charge of Public Service, Labour and ICT’s wife Salome Kioko works as a procurement officer - water, irrigation & sanitation. Kala‘s mother - Mbithe Kala is also a nominated MCA (Wiper) who voted to impeach Kiala. Close to 30 other junior officers - including Ivei Kala (emergency call center attendant) and Joseph Musyoka (water browse driver) are, according to Kiala‘s evidence, related to Kala.

Nimrod Mbai is the chief officer, Decentralised Units, Urban Areas and Municipalities. According to Kiala‘s evidence, he is formerly a bodyguard of Mutua when he served as Government Spokesman. His wife Grace Mbithuka, is a procurement officer in the county‘s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

Mwengi Mutuse is the Chief of Staff and Personal Assistant to the Governor. In his evidence, Kiala claimed Mutuse’s wife Esther Mueni is the procurement officer, Decentralised Units, Urban and Municipalities.

His three brothers work as procurement officers in (Water, Irrigation & Sanitation Ministry), revenue clerk and technician (County Image) respectively, Kiala said.

On average, Kiala submitted, around 50 county employees are directly or indirectly related to Mutuse. Peter Mutie is the chairman of Machakos Entertainment Centre, Film, Music and Arts Board (Machawood).

According to Kiala‘s evidence, his wife - Ruth Nduku Mutua is the county executive committee member (education, youth & sports). Ken Wathome is the chairman of Machakos Investment Board. His wife Faith Syokau is the county executive member (Culture, Sports & Tourism) according to Kiala‘s evidence to the Senate.

Robert Maitha‘s wife Winfred Kithome is the assistant director Labour & ICT.

Maitha himself is the director Trade & Economic Planning. Nicholas Kimanzi, the director of Labour & ICT’s wife Erica Kasimbi is the county officer, Public Service (Mavoko sub-county). “I pointed out that in the principle of equity and fairness, it was inappropriate for chief officers to work with their spouses and those spouses heading senior positions in procurement, which in my opinion would create a conflict of interest,” Kiala said of an incident in March when he complained of rampant nepotism.

Kiala claimed that the Machakos County Assembly had been sitting on the Auditor General’s report on irregularities in the County Government. He drew the Senate‘s attention to the Auditor’s complaint about purchase of two other second hand vehicles at a cost of Sh9.6 million.

“These vehicles were for the use of the Speaker of the Machakos County Assembly, Hon Bernard Mung‘ata and the Leader of the Majority Hon Joshua Mwonga. This one single transaction would explain why this auditors report has not been tabled in the Assembly as required by law,“ he told the Kagwe team.

Kiala also named a company associated with a serving member of Parliament, which has been supplying treated wooden poles to the County Government. He tabled documents showing that the tender was given long after the deliveries of the poles.

Kiala summed his evidence by branding himself “a victim of witch hunt and a sacrificial lamb at the altar of merchants of impunity and a county executive led by a governor himself keen to hound me out of office for whistle blowing against acts of corruption and bad governance.“ On July 23, 40 of the 59 Machakos County Assembly members passed a motion proposing to impeach Kiala on four grounds.