Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho addresses journalists on March 31, 2015
after opening Kikowani Road in Bondeni, Mvita Constituency. Mr Joho said
he will not resign over allegations levelled against him. PHOTO | KEVIN
ODIT |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, his Kilifi counterpart Amason
Kingi and former Transport minister Chirau Mwakwere are among the big
names from the Coast that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is
investigating for graft.
Mr Joho is being investigated
for facilitating the grabbing of Mwembe Tayari Market by a Mr Bawazir
and a Mr Zubedi by authorising the demolition of the original burnt
structure under the guise of flushing out drug addicts, muggers and
criminals.
Governor Kingi is being investigated for
buying his official residence at Sh140 million without following
procurement procedures.
Mr Mwakwere, Secretary to the
Cabinet Francis Kimemia and Investments Secretary Esther Koimett are
alleged to have used their powers to deny former Kenya Railways staff a
chance to buy houses under the tenant purchase scheme.
Seven
per cent of the houses whose value was estimated to be Sh5 billion,
which were described as non-strategic, were supposed to have been sold
to the occupants at the time.
The report, which was
tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, also named Mr Evanson Waitiki, the
owner of the controversy-ridden Waitiki Farm in Likoni, as being
investigated jointly with Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu for
allegedly colluding to inflate the cost of the farm by Sh110 million for
compensation purposes in a deal that the Cabinet Secretary would have
pocketed Sh65 million.
But Mr Joho said he was not involved in the sale of the Mwembe Tayari Market and vowed that he will not resign.
“I
am really shocked because those who approved the sale are well-known.
They include the Minister for Local Government then who issued a
no-objection letter of the sale,” Mr Joho said.
“I am
used to my name being soiled for political reasons. I have been accused
of being a land grabber, a drug dealer and of having a fake degree.
Nobody will intimidate me,” he said.
Speaking at
Kikoani where he commissioned a road, Mr Joho added: “my only
involvement with that market was when I stormed a drugs den with Mvita
MP Abdulswamad Nassir a few months after we were elected, drove out
drug-peddlers and closed the place after numerous complaints from the
public.”
The governor said he received with shock the
news that he was in the commission report while in Dubai last week and
thought there was something earth-shaking “only to learn that it was
trash.” He said he could not step-down over allegations that have no
iota of truth.
GO TO COURT
The governor also dragged Deputy President William Ruto into the controversy.
Mr
Ruto, he said, should lead “by example’’ and step down to pave the way
for investigations at his office which he claimed had been associated
with “many scandals”.
Mr Nassir said they had in their possession documents to show who approved the sale of the market.
Mr
Kingi said he was ready to go to court over the allegations, describing
the report by the anti-graft agency as politically motivated.
“As the governor, I do not condone corruption but the accusations against me are suspect,” he said.
Speaking
from Kilifi, Mr Kingi asked the anti-corruption commission “to follow
the right procedure” by taking the files to the Director of public
Prosecutions.
“We are not a Banana Republic that has no laws. Let’s do what is right. Those found guilty should be charged,” he said.
Mr
Kingi defended his head of procurement, Mr Matano Riziki Choga, who is
also on the list, saying he was not involved in the procurement and had
nothing to do with the purchase of the house.
At the
time of the purchase, said the governor, Mr Choga was not the head of
procurement. “The commission should come clean and specify the
violations committed in the procurement act and not make blanket
accusations.”
Mr Kingi said matters of corruption need
to be tackled transparently and not by an individual who sneaked a
document to the President.
Mr Kingi wondered whether the document in Parliament had been doctored to nail some individuals.
In
Nairobi, Mr Waitiki, was shocked that he was under investigation with
Mrs Ngilu for allegedly colluding to inflate the cost of the farm.
According
to the report tabled in Parliament, Mr Waitiki is said to have
negotiated a deal with Mrs Ngilu where the minister would reportedly get
a Sh65 million kickback.
The report says:
“Information (is) alleging that Mrs Charity Kaluki Ngilu the Cabinet
Secretary for Lands, Housing and Urban Development in collusion with Mr
Evanson Waitiki, owner of Plot No. Mombasa MN/1/397 Waitiki Farm in
Likoni inflated the actual market price for the land by Sh110,000,000.
The CS allegedly instructed valuers from her office to over-value the
lands by same margin.”
“From the aforementioned figure,
Mrs Ngilu allegedly is going to get a kick-back of Sh65,000,000 once
the deal is through,’’ adds the report.
'NOT AWARE'
Mr
Waitiki said although he was ready to face the investigators, he had
neither spoken to Mrs Ngilu nor been summoned by the anti-corruption
agency.
“I am hearing this for the third time from you.
Two other media people called me on the same. The truth is that I am
not aware of any negotiation on any deal about my land,” said Mr Waitiki
on telephone.
He said he was ready to visit the EACC
offices “in order to shed light” on the issue. He said he could not have
negotiated a deal when the government had not even given him any offer.
“If
Mrs Ngilu is to get Sh65 million, how much will I get? The government
has not even told me how much it is ready to buy my land for,” he added.
He
said he had not received any communication from the commision over the
matter and expressed willingness “to fly to their offices to tell them
the truth about the issue”.
According to current market
price of not less than Sh10 million per acre, the 980-acre beach land
could earn him at least Sh9.8 billion.
In Taita Taveta, former procurement director Maxwell Mkalla denied accusations of favouritism in awarding of tenders.
Mr
Mkalla, who is accused in the anti-corruption report of awarding county
tenders to Vicron Company, said he has never worked with the enterprise
in any manner during his tenure.
“I have no clue about
the company. I have never worked with that company and I have never
given them business,” Mr Mkalla told the Nation.
As a public officer, he was ready to be subjected to investigations, he said in a telephone interview.
The report says a Ms Scholar Okwaro, who works in the county, colluded with Mr Mkalla for the company to be awarded tenders.
It says that Vicron is owned by a Mr Anthony Okwaro, who is said to be a brother of Ms Okwaro.
When reached for comment, Ms Okwaro declined to comment, saying the matter was under investigation.
“I don’t want to comment on anything that is being investigated,” she said.
Mr
Mkalla claimed that he heard about the company after he was moved to
Moi Voi County Hospital, where he is the procurement officer.
The
current procurement officer, Mr Walter Machogu, said: “I don’t want to
comment on those issues. If indeed it has gone to the investigation
department, we have to wait for the law to take its course.”
Reports by Bozo Jenje, Daniel Nyassy and Laban Robert
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