Revealed: Scandal at KICC that nearly halted WTO meet

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala at the Kenyatta International Conventional Centre (KICC) during the official handing over of the venue to the WTO team for the upcoming Conference that took place from 15th to 18th of December 2015 in Nairobi Kenya. (PHOTO: FIDELIS KABUNYI/ STANDARD)

Najib Balala walked down the stairs of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre last December, breathed a sigh of relief amid a major procurement scandal that nearly stained Kenya’s image, irredeemably.
Preparations for the iconic venue in downtown Nairobi for the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks was in top gear, but there was an emergency.

Critical conferencing equipment including translation systems and headsets had not arrived in Kenya on that Thursday afternoon; not even the South African supplier had been notified. It was only three days to the start of the global conference that was being held in Africa for the first time.