Local Authorities Provident Fund (LAPFUND) boss, Mr. David Koross, is splashing millions of shillings on top officials of the agency’s board to have his term illegally extended for another five years.
Koross thought he would bag a Cabinet Secretary or Principal Secretary appointment in President William Ruto’s administration but missed both.
He is now bribing the board to extend his stay at the corporation which manages pension funds for County Government workers and other bodies including the water companies. But LAPFUND has experienced poor leadership under crooked Koross, characterized by massive looting, blatant theft and pocketing of more than Sh800 million in kickbacks.
His rogue nature has led to low morale among the staffers who are hoping that President Ruto kicks him out and replaces him with a disciplined and competent individual.
Koross is known for abusing his position and bending procurement laws to advance his selfish interests like in Makasembo, Kisumu County, where he solely awarded a contract worth Sh7 billion to a corrupt businessman for kickbacks.
And to shield himself from prosecution, the corrupt CEO goes ahead and wards relatives of investigative officers with jobs. He has pocketed the entire board leading to his over a decade stay at LAPFund, which is against the Retirement Benefits Authority Acts.
Employees at the mismanaged corporation are now calling on investigative agencies to act in time or have a forensic audit conducted on Koross by an independent body and not corrupt government institutions before the dire situation gets out of hands.
They are also demanding that State reconstitutes a new board and sends all the corrupt managers colluding with Koross and appoint a caretaker committee to steer the corporation before a new management is put in place.
Mr. Koross’s ring of cartels include the head of Finance Mr. Mbogo, the Head of Procurement Mr. Kibet and Tender Committee chairperson Akolo who also doubles has his mistress.
The cartel plunders LAPFund resources and colludes to steal by exaggerating prices including the case in Kitengela where they bought a 30 acre piece of land at an exorbitant price of Sh10 million when the market price at the time was only Sh5 million.
The land in question was bought through a broker who has since kept a low profile as the disputing owners drag LAPFund to court.
Another suspicious transaction by Koross and his cartel involves the purchase of a land in South C’s Bellevue area which was bought at Sh500 million per acre and an extra Sh300 million was paid in early 2019, one year after the transfer was completed.
Koross further abuses his position by sending his mistresses to suspicious international trips and seminars which add no value to the organization.
To save LAPFUND from a possible collapse, the corrupt CEO should face a myriad of charges ranging from theft, abuse of office to mismanagement of the corporation’s resources.
He now survives by bribing anybody who tries to raise a finger including politicians and cartels that collect millions from the fund at will; a trend that threatens to deplete all the LAPFund resources.
