There is a well thought out plan by senior State House operatives to have Uwezo Fund CEO Peter Lengapiani sacked over corruption scandals and syphoning of public funds at the state corporation. The developments have been backed by Auditor General Dr. Nancy Gathungu’s damning report which unearthed how the Fund has failed to maintain debtor’s ledgers detailing the loans issued out and paid back over the years.
Gathungu’s report for the year ended June 2022 also exposed the rot at Uwezo Fund and revealed how a whopping sh4.6 billion was misapropriated under Lengapiani’s watch.
Concerned state officers pushing for the sacking of the CEO want the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to swiftly swing into action and investigate the matter and Lengapiani’s looting cartel.
The Auditor General also raised a red flag on the operations of the Uwezo Fund Bureti constituency office where the agency is at pains to explain the amount that was loaned out to borrowers through the office by the time it became dormant and why it operations were derailed.
Gathungu found that Lengapiani issues loans without following the due procedure and has no proper means to ensure repayment. She also identified deficiencies in documentation, authorisation and approvals of loans to prevent irregular loans.
The CEO has deliberately failed to ensure that controls are put in place to implement the activities of the fund to achieve its intended purpose. It is not the first time that the Auditor-General is flagging Uwezo Fund for mismanagement, since in the past three years, reports from the office have shown the dangers inside the fund that is meant to benefit Kenyan youth, women and PWDs.
Ms Gathungu has over the timed warned of an imminent collapse of Uwezo Fund fund after it failed to implement prudential financial management policies, with the amount at risk increasing from Sh3.9 billion in the year to June 2019, Sh4.1 billion in the year to June 2020 and now Sh4.6billion.
Lengapiani has refused to furnish auditors with records of groups loaned money since inception even after he claimed he ws ready to churn out figures during a PR event presided over by former Government Spokesman Mr. Cyrus Oguna.
Senior officials colluding with the CEO at the Fund’s head offices in Lonrho House, Nairobi, always hide or flee from press to avoid questions on measures they have taken to ensure the money lent out is paid back, the number of its constituency offices that have closed down and guidelines followed while issuing loans to reduce chances for default.
Uwezo Fund was designed to offer two loan products; Wezesha loan for first-time borrowers who should get between Sh50,000 and Sh100,000 to support their enterprises, and Endeleza loan for repeat borrowers who can get up to Sh500,000. On its website, the fund claims to have disbursed a total of Sh6.1 billion, which is Sh1 billion less than what the CEO Lengapiani said it had issued.
