Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission detectives on Thursday morning picked up and briefly detained Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu in relation to an allegation of the irregular award of a Sh588 million tender.
The EACC mounted an aggressive search inWaititu’s city homes with the aim of accessing evidence into audit queries raised by the Auditor General.
The evidence sought is in relation to the persistent audit queries’ painting a grim picture of Kiambu’s fiscal reporting. The governor allegedly awarded tenders through companies owned by family members and other proxies.
In a statement obtained by The Brief, EACC said the governor was arrested in connection to tenders worth Kshs588 million. Kiambu county allegedly awarded these tenders to entities closely associated with the county boss. Waititu was picked up after the sleuths conducted a six-hour raid in his Runda and Garden Estate homes. EACC’s statement further said the agency is in possession of crucial evidence obtained after today’s search. At the time of publishing the news, Waititu was still held at Integrity Centre, EACC’s headquarters.
The detectives further pointed that they were also pursuing another 15 senior officials, all alleged to have committed corruption-related crimes.
Waititu, has for long, denied any involvement in corruption activities and cited political conspiracies in his experiences with investigative agencies. In a Senate appearance, two weeks ago, Waititu was at pains to explain budgetary misreporting in Kiambu’s 2018/2019 budget. The county had reportedly set aside Kshs918 million to finance State House activities, a national government function. Other shocking budget allocations had funds set aside for the South Sudan Peace process and emoluments for retired presidents.
Despite clearance from the Kenya Audit Office (KENAO), the EACC believes that Waititu has a case to answer in relation to tender based corruption allegations.
Waititu spent more than 6 hours at Integrity centre and left shortly before 7 pm.
The Brief can confidently report that Mr. Waititu has since accessed anticipatory bail from Kiambu Law Courts barring his arrest. The bail, posted at Kshs. 500,000, was issued by Magistrate Bryan Khaemba.
