By James Wafula in Nairobi
T he story of how a low placed subordinate staff at Kenya’s National Hospital and Insurance fund earning under Kshs 20,000 a month used to charter a helicopter to fly over the constant traffic jams in Nairobi once stunned Kenyans to the core! Not even the president was ever reported to have deliberately flown a helicopterto avoid traffic jam. It soon became clear that the “receptionist” at NHIF had amassed unaccountable wealth owning a palatial home with a swimming pool, and 6 top of the range luxury cars in the compound. His children attended top flight international academies where they sometimes dropped in a chopper.
The state moved fast to charge the NHIF subordinate with corruption demanding that he account for his colossal wealth in addition to daily helicopter rides that cost a staggering Kshs 45,000 an hour! The soft spoken man of the Kisii tribe from Nyanza easily secured a Kshs 1 million bond to stay out of jail as the case “dragged” on in typical Kenya fashion where justice is often oiled by bags of money ensuring that only the weak and poor stay in jail. The scandal that unfolded during the reign of President Uhuru Kenyatta has long since fizzled out despite the head of state having vowed to “punish” those stealing public funds not a single big fish was jailed! Some of the major scams that Kenyatta left un-punished include National Youth Service (NYS), Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), and the coffee and tea sectors. In
all cases well placed bureaucrats
have become rich overnight at the
expense of the public institutions
they are heading.
In the latest scandal, NHIF has
apparently been paying millions
to “ghost” patients in un-gazzeted
hospitals forcing the government
to disband the board and order
investigations.
Unlike Uganda’s recent Karamoja
mabati scam that saw some ministers
spend cold nights in the Luziro
Lakeside prison, in Kenya ministry
of health cartels never see the inside
of jail; as there is ready cash to
“induce” an immediate bail or bond
with “lawyers” who are oiled by the
cartel having inside knowledge on
which judge is willing to “play ball”!
Some members of the cartels have
been widely spotted freely debating
in crowded Nairobi hotels,bars and
restaurants on which judge to see
and how much he is likely “to charge”
to give bond, bail, or simply free the
suspect! The blatant impunity of
some of the ‘operators” has baffled
many discerning Kenyans.
The cartel is said to run deep
right up to remand prisons where
recently a lowly placed warden
earning Kshs 25,000 a month was
under the spotlight of the National
Asset Recovery Authority (NARA)
over a staggering amount of cash
in his bank account. The warden
had amassed Kshs 250 million and
had claimed he did not know where
it came from! That is including
owning prime land, businesses and
properties. The authority has since
frozen his the bank account and
other assets as detectives probe his
wealth but the matter could just
as soon fizzle out once huge sums
change hands.
At the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) the rot runs deep and recently President William Ruto disbanded the board over a “mosquito nets” scandal that had seen up to Kshs 9 billion reported stolen. Up to 200 staffers at KEMSA have been sent home in what the government says is an effort to cut down on the public wage bill. Some old scandals like the Goldenberg scam of the 1990’s in which up to Kshs 90 billion was lost in fake gold compensation during the Moi regime and the Anglo Leasing Kshs 60 billion paid out to suppliers of “hot air’ in the Kibaki era, remain unresolved for more than 30 years with some key suspects long gone to their maker■
