Nairobi county has been turned into a crime scene where the corrupt have used the courts and parallel payment systems to siphon billions of shillings into different companies’ bank accounts while critical services and genuine suppliers go unpaid.
Ann Kananu
Governor Ann Kananu has found herself in similar waters as former governors Evans Kidero and Mike Sonko who were overrun by the cartels, which prompted Sonko to request assistance from the highest office in Kenya. Following her swearing-in, Kananu was immediately confronted by a county in chaos. Several suppliers and contractors who had offered services to the county had not been paid and staff were on the verge of a strike due to delayed payments and unsettled health insurance claims and allowances. While the county budget for the year had been approved and disbursed, genuine suppliers had not been paid, many for ongoing services spanning more than 18 months. A few suppliers had paid out bribes to the chief finance officer in the hope of being paid once the next budget was released but were yet to be paid as well. Many hoped that with the entry of the new governor, the period of uncertainty would come to an end, but they were wrong. The cartels had only begun to entrench a system of county capture that would see ghost suppliers and a cabal of businessmen from a particular community profit.
Evans Kidero
In a bid to steady the ship, Governor Kananu restructured the county chief officers through issuing executive order No 3 of 2022 to improve service delivery to Nairobi residents. Our investigations have revealed a
number of suppliers and contractors whose bills of delivery could not be determined. These suppliers of air ironically had consistently been paid in full through the former chief of finance, Mohammed Sahal who was been transferred to the health department as investigations were initiated by the governor and investigative bodies. Suppliers and staff breathed a sigh of relief as they expected collective arrears owed by the county. This relief was short lived however as Sahal challenged his transfer at the
Labour and Employment Court where Justice Kibira Ocharo issued orders directing Sahal’s reinstatement to the finance docket. It is believed that Justice Ocharo was misled by Sahal into issuing orders for his reinstatement despite a pre-existing order issued by a different court, Justice Hellen Ong’udi, barring him from exercising the duties of the finance officer. This has led to conflicting orders issued by the two courts further compounding the predicament faced by genuine suppliers who have to now contend with the continued illegal occupation of the finance office by Sahal.
Mike Mbuvi Sonko
So the question stands, why does Sahal deem it fit to remain in office despite a departmental transfer? In early July 2022, questions were raised by several suppliers who were still awaiting payment from the county while more recently contacted suppliers were being paid. Some suppliers complained that they had been summoned to hotels and bribes demanded of them and still they had not been paid. During our investigations, it emerged that the alleged companies that received the irregularly transferred Sh120 million had supplied no services to the county and did not undergo any tendering and evaluation process within Nairobi county government. These include some of the recipients and amount received, majority belonging to a particular community. The transfer was executed by Sahal mere hours after he wiggled his way back into office after the CEC finance was intimidated and forced to sign a letter giving him back the mandate that was earlier withdrawn. The Sh120 million was paid by embattled Sahal, despite the executive order no 3 transferring him to a different sector. In a recent campaign event, Nairobi governor hopeful Polycarp Igathe stated that business in Nairobi had been captured by a powerful cartel of three individuals, who our investigations have revealed as comprising of former county finance officer Sahal, businessman Yusuf Maina and the leader of majority Nairobi county assembly Abdi Guyo who is currently seeking gubernatorial seat for Isiolo county.
Mohammed Sahal
It is an open secret that a supplier who wants to be paid for goods and services must visit Sahal when he is at the Reata Hotel in Milimani. Sahal and several businessmen, majority from a particular community, linked to the ghost supplier companies that regularly get paid from the county purse have set up permanent office at the hotel, frequently taking official county business meetings in the premises. It is from this unofficial office that Sahal and his associates decide which suppliers will be paid. The entrance fee to join the payment list has been revealed by several suppliers to range between 20-30pc of the pending bill. The money is allegedly collected under the guise of a kickback to the ‘mkubwa’ Governor Kananu but it has been confirmed through investigation that this money is shared between Sahal, Maina and Guyo. As genuine suppliers await payments, the county capture machine continues to exercise their parallel payment system that funnels billions to corrupt businessmen from a particular community who supply nothing. Most Nairobi Metropolitan Services projects namely roads, pavements and hospital pending bills cannot be paid due to diversion of funds by the former finance officer Sahal. MCAs from several wards in Nairobi have also expressed frustrations after their ward development funds were diverted by Sahal, even after he was transferred from the finance docket, as he demands huge bribes and kickbacks.
Polycarp Igathe
The result is a class of disgruntled genuine supplies and a county administration crawling undignified to its death. Several staff have confessed to increasing delays in salary payment as the funds are diverted through Sahal and his cartel’s illegal parallel system into private pockets. Letters and documents in our possession including a sworn affidavit by the Comptroller of Budget, show that county funds are repeatedly diverted by Sahal. The diversion of staff deductions, salaries, imprest, allowances and arrears has crippled the administration from conducting its duties. A long list of critical services including medical insurance, KRA pending bills, KPLC pending bills, vehicle insurance (including for emergency response vehicles such as ambulances and fire engines) among others have similarly not been paid. The desperate conditioning has led the county staff to the brink of a strike, not helped by the environment of intimidation and bullying instilled by the county capture machinery. Retaining Sahal as a vessel and instrument of county capture for the benefit of a few members of a particular community continues to have a damaging effect on Nairobi as a totality. Justice Ocharo was misled by Sahal who continues to file cases with the court in order to slow and stall corrective measures to the situation. In every case corruption has fought back and taken even bigger bites from the county budget.
Abdi Guyo
The latest episode saw Sh120 million lost and is currently under investigation
by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. In the larger picture billions have already been lost to the county capture machinery. Weekly Citizen contacted Governor Kananu for a comment on the allegations, she stated that the matter is currently under investigation by the DCI and so she is unable to comment until the investigations are concluded. Sahal remains unreachable on his listed telephone line. However, the damage he and his gang have inflicted is so complicated that in a case of mistaken identity, a businessman resembling him was recently beaten up by frustrated suppliers when he sought county assistance. The mismanagement of the county finance office by Sahal has led to several arrest warrants being issued against the county secretary Jairus Musumba for non-payment of court decrees obtained by frustrated suppliers. In an attempt to evade arrest due to these warrants against him, Musumba has been unable to physically attend to his office in the past six months, being forced to work from undisclosed locations. County capture, much like state capture, is elevated corruption. The individuals, like Sahal and his associates, are known to their victims and through manipulation and intimidation are keeping themselves in power to completely milk the county and country dry.
Jairus Musumba
Suppliers and many others agree that they cannot afford to move with Sahal into the next five years. Already garbage collectors in the county of Nairobi have threatened to call a strike until their dues are paid. As the filth and garbage begin to pile up, many others wonder if and when they will see their money at the end of the tunnel. Nairobi was once known as the city in the sun, but the activities of this cartel have left nothing but darkness, gloom and despair to the staff of Nairobi county, the residents and investors. Among the firms Sahal has favoured in payments running into millions of shillings are Flexilease Limited registration CPR/2013/104634 with directors Yusuf Maina and Stella Nyamu, Yusma Trading C 162741 of directors Harun Hussein, Sunil Popatal Daud and Abdirahman Hassan. It was incorporated on October 9 2008, Daasanach Construction Limited CPR/2014/127915 of directors Said Mohamed, Ferdinand Machoma and John Ote have also been paid. Addikadir Gurow, a director Asmara Ventures is another beneficiary. It was incorporated on March 13 2017 with registration PVT– AAAEHVS.
