12 Mega Corruption Scandals Killing the Jubilee Government

President Kenyatta with his deputy William Ruto at a press briefing

Well, as the August 2017 general elections draw nearer and nearer, it is wise to revisit the achievements of the Jubilee regime, which majorly is massive looting of public resources.

I have compiled a list of the major corruption scandals carried out under the full watch of the Jubilee regime.

Laptop Tendering Scandal: the whereabouts of 53 billion shillings allocated to the project and tendered to Olive Technologies is unknown particularly after the court rejected the laptop tendering given that the company had no financial capacity to deliver the laptops.

The Eurobond scandal: in 2014, the Kenyan government borrowed over 250 billion shillings as Eurobond which was meant to pay previous governmental debts and fund various infrastructural development projects in the country. Early last year, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga emerged with allegations that over 100 billion shillings from the Eurobond proceedings had been misappropriated. A report by the the Auditor General Edward Ouko in September 2016 revealed that Sh215 billion of Eurobond moeny was accounted for.

Standard Gauge Tendering Scandal: being Jubilee’s pillar infrastructural project undertaken in their 5 years in power, SGR has been surrounded by controversy since its inception due to single sourcing – tendering process of the Chinese China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and how the quoted total cost of building the SGR rose mysteriously from 220, 921,502,221.08 Kenya shillings [approx. 220 billion shillings] to staggering 1.3 trillion Kenya shillings.

The National Youth Service Scandal: well, this scandal has been on the airwaves since 2015 after the Opposition came with the claims that over 791 million shillings had been looted at the National Youth Service. The State House came forward quickly and announced that no monies had been lost at NYS, and defended the then devolution Sectary Anne Waiguru (whose NYS department fell under her ministry) as being an industrious civil servant. A report by the Auditor general Edward Ouko in June 2016 put the figure of looted cash at NYS at 1.8 billion shillings.

There have been other mega scandals under the jubilee regime:

475 billion shillings Irregular Lamu Coal Project Award: it is alleged that the said amount was lost after the government awarded the tender to a company that did not even submit a proposal at the request for proposal stage

55.6 billion shillings JKIA New Terminal irregular tendering Scandal: irregular tendering through Kenya Airports Authority during the construction of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport New Terminal saw the loss of 55.6 billion shillings.

15 Billion shillings of the CCTV Single sourced tender to Safaricom.

10 billion Geothermal Development Company (GDC) scandal – during tendering process.

8billion Karen Land Scandal involving 40 Members of Parliament

1.3Billion irregular drug haul ship explosion: reports have emerged that the MV Al Noor ship blowup by President Uhuru Kenyatta in August 2014 didn’t actually contain the alleged 1.3 billion shillings heroin, rather it was mere gypsum used for making fertilizer according to one of the vessel’s crew.

 50 million shillings Chieckegate Scandal: this scandal involved top senior officials at Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Investigation by UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) revealed that British companies dished out bribes to IEBC officials to secure deals. Those involved in the scam in the UK were fined and jailed, but Kenya is still conducting investigation on the Kenyan officials implicated. SHAME!

This list won’t be full without mentioning the 100-million-shilling Hustler’s Jet Scandal. Scam allegations hit Deputy President William Ruto in 2014 after it was reported in the media that the DP had charted a luxury jet at a cost of 100 million shillings to take Ruto on a trip to Algeria, Nigeria, Gabon and Congo. However, the government came forth through the then Information permanent secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo to quash such claims.