Thuita: NYS generous boy who plays with billions

Ann Ngirita in the dock at Milimani court where she was charged with conspiracy to commit an economic crime. [Beverlyne Musili /Standard]

James Thuita Nderitu was not the focus of the cameramen when he was paraded in court alongside other suspects in the Sh9 billion National Youth Service scandal.

Perhaps the attention was too much on the more prominent defendants like Principal Secretary Lillian Mbogo-Omollo.

But the slender man whom friends describe as easy-going and a lover of life is extremely well-connected among the political class.

At one of his businesses in downtown Nairobi, security guards know him for the range of expensive cars that he and his wife, also in custody, drive.

For the 38-year old, it has been a meteoric rise in five years to be among the top suppliers of the NYS.

Largest chunk

Two of his firms, Firstling Supplies and Active Electrons Africa, collectively received the largest chunk of the questionable payments - Sh1.7 billion.

Thuita and his wife Yvonne Ngugi own at least four mansions in upscale neighbourhoods of Muthaiga and Runda alone. The couple are free spenders, often out dining and wining, and generous to a fault.

When the first scandal broke out, Nderitu was already trading with the youth empowerment agency supplying cutting blades for graders and machinery spare parts – payments for which are the subject of the court case.

PS Omollo, who is also behind bars for her alleged role in the alleged theft, told investigators before her arrest that Thuita had delivered goods within a record seven days of receiving local purchase orders from NYS.

Doubts had, however, been raised about the authenticity of the deliveries, informing delays in the payments which were eventually made on February 1, 2017 while the alleged deliveries were made on August 25, 2015 – just a week after the LPO was generated.

In yet another suspect payment made on May 15, 2017, cutting blades for graders were supplied on August 18, 2015, also a week after the procurement order was given to Firstling Supplies.

But far back as 2012, Firstling Supplies was already on the radar of the Auditor General over suspicious dealings with the government.

Despite the integrity questions, through the same firm and several others that also transact with government agencies, business has only flourished.

His fortunes in business are similar to Phyllis Njeri, one of the four daughters of the Ngirita family whose payments worth Sh108 million are also under probe.

Njeri, a mother of three, operates a modest butchery store in Naivasha besides her controversial firm - Njewanga Enterprises which has been trading with the NYS.

People who know her well says she separated from her German husband and returned home to start her business about four years ago.

Njeri, like her siblings, had modest education before she travelled at the invitation of her elder sister who still lives with her family in Germany.

There are no records to indicate that she has ever held a job, in Kenya or abroad.

The mother Lucy Wambui Ngirita is also among those charged and the family members collectively pocketed Sh297 million.

Wambui’s last born daughter Anne Wambere, also a frequent traveler to Germany, has emerged as the star of the NYS scandal.

At only 30, her company Annwaw Investments, has transacted in tens of millions for several years. Jeremiah Gichini Ngirita is their first born.