Kenya Ports Authority lost Sh36.6 million in a span of one year through fictitious and fraudulent water supply deals spearheaded by some managers and contractors.
Sources claimed the racket was played between a group of KPA junior staff allegedly supported by two managers said to be fighting to block a certain engineer from ascending to the position of general manager.
According to the internal audit report seen by Weekly Citizen, four staff members believed to be behind the racket were already facing suspensions while a number water vendors involved in the scandal have been blacklisted as a multi-security agencies embark on further investigations.
The scandal involved alterations of delivery notes, delivery of water in excess of available capacity as well as inflated browsers capacities, according to the internal audit and risks management report signed by a Oyugi, the head of internal audit and risks management department.
The report further noted that at the delivery points, the recipients who were both from procurement department and civil engineering departments over exaggerated the quantity of water received and the same reflected in the delivery notes.
There were also alleged dubious invoices which were overrated as well as excessive frequency of trucks trips.
Among water vendors widely mentioned in the report include Samnix Enterprises, Smech Ltd and Pinch Traders all accused of involvement in the scandal said to have existed since 2017.
KPA has since embarked on desalination of ocean water to meet fresh water demand at the port and minimize cost of purchase from private vendors as well as dealing with such cases of corruption.
It has since emerged, EACC has launched investigations into the water supply scandal and sources indicate that the anti-graft officers were almost making a major breakthrough that would see several individuals linked to the scam would be arrested and arraigned in courts to face corruption charges.
Meanwhile, the latest entry of DCI and other multi-agency investigative officers in the matter has reportedly raised eyebrows among KPA staff with a number of them accusing investigators of carrying out the exercise already with a fixed mind. There are claims that some investigators were being used to settle personal scores.
“One wonders how DCI and the multi-agencies are gathering their facts without the original documents that are already with EACC. It looks like someone could be out to fix some people they don’t like,” one source was overheard lamenting about the dimension of the ongoing investigations.
Sources claimed a certain female head of department known to be in good books with DCI officers was fueling the matter out of proportion in order to settle selfish scores with people believed to be her enemies particularly in procurement and civil engineering departments after her proxy companies were denied tenders.
“One senior manager well known for leaking confidential documents to government bodies is now using this matter as a revenge weapon to undermine staff members in the affected departments by constantly giving false information to DCI about staff characters,” the sources pointed out.
It is further claimed, the senior manager had allegedly recruited some Coast MPs who enjoy lucrative tenders at the port to fight her wars to stop the manager from ascending to the top position. A one Nyaga is the favourite of the politicians.
