Report: Rot at disabled persons’ agency continues

By KIPCHUMBA SOME

Persons with disabilities have for many years complained about alleged mega corruption in the allocation and expenditure of huge sums of money disbursed from national coffers for projects and development programmes across the country.

Early this year, hundreds of people with disability hit the streets to protest and demanded government intervention to stop alleged mismanagement and misappropriation of resources.

What followed was constitution of an investigating team to look into issues raised, leading to the presentation of a report to Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi two weeks ago.

Among the findings, Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi has been mentioned in the new report that details the rot and inefficiencies at a government agency for persons with disabilities. Mr Muturi was a member of the board of trustees of the National Council for Persons of Disabilities when it bought a house in for Sh25 million without following procurement rules. The report by Efficiency Monitoring Unit (Emu) said the council might have been defrauded since the title deed to the piece of land on which the house stands in Mountain View Estate along Waiyaki Way was invalid.

“Given the circumstances surrounding the transfer of the title from the original owner to the vendor and eventual purported transfer to the council, the Team (Emu) formed an opinion that the whole process of the transaction is shrouded with doubts as to the genuineness of ownership of the property,” said the report. However, it should be noted that Mr Muturi joined the board in November 2010 when the process of purchasing the property was well underway.

Disciplinary action

The report has recommended disciplinary action against Phoebe Nyagudi, the council’s chief executive officer for gross incompetence in the handling of the house purchase.

It said Mrs Nyagudi ignored advice from advocates that the value of the house could be reviewed and recommended to the Minister of Labour to start the recruitment process for her replacement. However, the report was harsh on the entire board of trustees “for abdicating their responsibilities” in the purchase of the house and for failing to act in the best interests of the disabled.

It said the board bought the house without seeking authority from the parent ministry and engaged the services of a law firm for the transaction without advertising for the services as required by law. Furthermore the technical evaluation of the tender for the house was done by the board rather than the technical evaluation committee or the Ministry of Public Works as required by law. “Whereas the BOT (Board of Trustees) in one of their meetings noted that they were not property experts, they later went ahead to evaluate the tender for the purchase of the house,” reads the report.

In addition the report said the council paid the Sh2.5 million, being 10 per cent deposit to the seller of the house on December 10, 2010 yet the sale agreement was signed on December 15, 2010. It said the location of the office is not easily accessible to persons with disabilities since it is some distance from the main highway where public transport is available.

The report recommended that the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission should commence investigations in to the entire board of trustees for their roles in the deal.

Apart from Muturi and Nyagudi, other members of the board during the transaction included Ms Susan Kirima and Mr Phitalis Were Masakhwe, who was the Council’s chairperson. Others were Mr Samuel Kabue, Mr John Halake, Ms Salome Kimata, John Olinga, Mr Francis Asiema and Mr Tom Gichuhi. With the exception of Muturi, the terms of all the other members expired on October 31, 2012. Mr Muturi’s term expires on November 30, 2013. A new board of trustees is yet to be appointed since.

The government ordered an audit of the council’s operations after investigations by KTN last year unearthed malpractice at the organisation. The report found out that there was little oversight on organisations and individuals who were benefiting from the council’s funds to the extent that some of the organisations were diverting the council’s funds to private use.

Disband board

The report also called on the labour minister to “consider disbanding the existing board of the council due to their gross incompetence in the running the operations of the council.” The report also found that the council is too bloated “that a reasonable percentage of its funds go towards payment of members allowances.” The council has 24 members all whose contracts expired on October 31 2013.

Mrs Joseptha Mukobe, the coordination principal secretary in the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government was a member of the council. Former MP Josephine Sinyo and Mrs Patience Chome have been members of the council since its inception in 2004 and the report recommends they be replaced since they might have no fresh ideas to bring to the council.