Its is sad to learn how corruption ruled between Child Welfare Society if Kenya and the National Assembly Labour and Social Welfare Committee to trash claims of embezzlement of funds, abuse of office and that of children’s rights at the state corpporation.
In a world where money can literally move mountains it is more sickening that among the labour committee members who were allegedly compromised is David Ole Sankok, a nominated member of Parliament who was nominated on the account of representing the interest of the people living with disabilities.
A seemingly heartless Irene Mureithi has been the CEO of CWSK corporation since 2002. One of the facility she is in charge of is Mama Ngina children’s home which houses children with special needs, specifically dealing with children suffering from cerebral palsy.
In an exposé titled “Sins of Saviours” that was aired on NMG’s TV station NTV after a month-long court battle, it was established that the children at the facility were put in congested rooms, taken through experimental treatments, no enough food provided and many other ills yet the bills that were emanating from such exercises were mind boggling.
According to the exposé, this Ms. Mureithi for all the years was administering fake drugs with quacks as her ‘doctors’.
“Catherine and Aggrey have been charged with administering medical treatment by false pretense, and operating an unlicensed facility. The Poisons Board accuses the two of offenses relating to dispensing pharmaceuticals without requisite licenses.” NTV reported
Children at the facility were also subjected to dubious and painful procedures at Stallion Rain Associates, a clinic that was neither recognized, registered, known, nor licensed by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board.
As if that was not enough, they were further subjected to painful experimental treatment methods that left them crying out loud in pain and agony.
Ms Mureithi was further accused of abuse of office and embezzlement of funds meant for the welfare of the special needs children.
The exposé further unearthed the elaborate scheme in which an unidentified social worker putting on a nurse’s uniform and a driver, allegedly authorized as signatories to the state corporation’s accounts, made lump sum withdrawals using shady documentation.
Helpless Mureithi after getting the wind of this exposé by the NTV that was to expose the rot in her office, resorted to children’s court as a tactic to delay the airing of exposé arguing that the exposé had the potential of revealing the identities of the children in the facility, and the court had therefore to intervene. She succeeded by getting a court injunction stopping the airing of the exposé.
Lawyer Nelson Havi questioned the circumstances under which this order was issued,
“It would be interesting to know which Judge had issued the order restraining Nation Media Group from publishing or airing #SinsOfSaviours. What case was presented to him/her? What is it that we don’t know? This Country was sold longtime ago! To who? Where do we deliver it?” He paused.
Two weeks later that ended on Tuesday this week, the court ruled that the matter ought to be filed in a civil court. And that there was no connection between the suit and the protection of children because the suit sought damages for defamation.
The crafty Mureithi did a lot within the two weeks. She changed the face of the questioned facility where children’s rights were abused, disposed of the broken beds, provided enough meals to the children, bought new beds, mattresses and beddings and further compromised all the MPs from labour committee that were to visit the site to give positive reports about her facility. Remember, Ms Mureithi had admitted in an earlier interview with NTV that kids from the said facility were being treated by untrained medical practitioners.
Two weeks of miracle!
A visit on Tuesday afternoon to one of the facilities under CWSK, the Mama Ngina children’s home introduced one to the neat arrangement of beds that shows clearly that they were quickly fixed to cover up.
Knowing that the MPs from National Assembly labour and social welfare committee were in her pocket, Ms Mureithi did not feel any pain that the children had been subjected to, she shamelessly claimed that the exposé by NTV was a movie and a creation of the media.
This was a true testimony that she only cares about the multimillions she is siphoning from the tax payers monies.
“I mean to me it’s simply drama, even a movie. There is fiction and something which is simply strange and fiction to us. There is no reality about that” Mureithi shamelessly told the media.
She further claimed that she and her organization was a target of bad publicity because of the work she has been doing,
“The fight is about CWSK and we have been at the forefront fighting child trafficking” she said.
While giving it a clean bill of health using the script provided for by the management, the chairman of that committee Mr Wario Ali said,
“I have looked at that facility and I haven’t seen any broken bed. I observed the care, how children are being protected here, the facility avails to them, for us as a country, I am proud and I want to say thank you to the CWSK moreso to what you have done to our children
“Look at the children’s welfare, look at the face of these kids, you cannot change the face of a child just because there is a media coverage that is coming today.” He told the media.
His colleague Mr Sankok then cements it saying “We are totally happy with how the children are being taken care of”
That which the labour committee did was the real movie.
