Nairobi County Assembly asks EACC to act on corruption reports

MCAs Robert Alai (Kileleshwa), Mwaura Chege(Ngara) and Paul Wachira(Kayole North) addressing the media outside EACC Headquarters in Nairobi on September 7, 2023 over the controversial Liquor report. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Nairobi County Assembly has invited the Ethics and Anti-corruption (EACC) to act on reports touching on how millions of taxpayers' money was misappropriated.

While tabling some of the reports at EACC headquarters, the Assembly Public Accounts Committee chaired by Mwaura Chege said some of the recommendations on the reports ought to be acted on.

The Committee said that one of the reports was that of the Nairobi Alcoholic Drinks Control and Licensing Board where some taxpayer’s money was misappropriated between 2019/20.

“On the liquor board report there are some glaring issues like overstepping their mandate due to little scrutiny before,” Mwaura said

He further said: "We have also recommended some of the monies to be looked into and be recovered back to the County based on the evidence.”

In the report that has since been tabled and adopted by the Assembly, five ex-City Hall officials among them former Liquor board members were linked to alleged misappropriation of public funds to the tune of Sh209 million.

The committee was investigating the Auditor General’s report, which contained details of cash flows for the year ended 30 June 2020.

Mwaura said the focus was shifted to Liquor licencing and alcohol control of Nairobi because it is a big revenue earner.

“In others, we felt that some good works were done, we have also recommended that the number of bank accounts by the Liquor board be reduced,” Mwaura explained.

The chairman stated the liquor board should have at least one that deals with fines and another that deals with licenses so that the accounting can be easy.

Kileleshwa Ward rep Robert Alai who is a Committee member said before the board had been turned into a cash cow.

“The licensing regime was depending on a single person and anybody who tried to question that was silenced in one way or the other, so this is a very critical report to the County,” Alai added.