Trouble at the coast!
Kwale County governor Amason Jeffa Kingi and Kilifi County governor Salim Mvurya are on the spot after the Auditor General linked the two with massive looting of taxpayer’s money.
Among the many cases highlighted by the Auditor is the loss of more than Sh200 million that disappeared through proposed development projects.
The AG also noted that during the construction of the governor’s office more than Sh129 million was lost to officials in collusion with the contractor more surprising the money was lost even before the tender was awarded to a company linked to former finance executive.
Corruption has also played a key role in poor investigations to the issues since most officials get bribes with reports indicate that nearly Sh25 million has been spent to slow down investigations.
For instance, over a year ago a team of officials from an investigative agency reportedly clashed with a team from the AG’s office aimolt because one team had received more amount of money than the other.
There is also an outcry over alleged numerous brokers who harass and intimidate contractors by demanding for bribes failure to which a certificate of completion is denied.
Extortionists working under senior government officials also enjoy as they as well demand for handouts before awarding tenders. Unless you pay the bribe demanded a company will not be awarded any tender.
Mwakalanga Dam is among projects whose quality was compromised due to corruption networks within the county. The dam was implemented at a cost of ober Sh36 million but half of the sum were paid to senior officials as bribes to win the tender.
According to the Auditor General report, physical verification of the project revealed that excavation work had just been started, whereas supervising engineer’s report indicated that work was complete.
Dziweni water project in Kinango sub-county implemented at cost of Sh7 million suffered the same as well. A official was allegedly bribed with Sh2 million and the project ended up being shoddily implemented.
Installation of fibre optical cables by Kwale County Government was an issue as well the AG revealing that over Sh8 million could nlt be accounted for by the County.
The report questions as to why Kwale county administration awarded the Sh18.4m tender to a less exposed entity instead of the more established firms like KPLC and Telkom that had also shown interest in the project implementation.
The report blames the county government for paying the week local firm to procure for the services at a higher cost.
