Kihika in hot soup over stalled Sh1m toilet project

Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika when she was grilled by Senate's CPAC Commiittee over irregular payments, stalled projects. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

The Senate has now called on the anti-graft agency to probe Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika over the irregular payment of Sh22 million to uncontracted private law firms and Sh7.8 billion in stalled projects. 

A watchdog committee has directed that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) question the governor in relation to the alleged misuse of billions, questionable payments to law firms stalled projects key among them a Sh1 million toilet whose completion has stalled for the last three years. 

According to a query by the office of the Auditor General, the Sh1 million toilet meant for a modern market in Nakuru has stalled since 2019. 

" How can a toilet worth just 1 million shillings take so long to complete?" posed committee chairperson and Homabay Senator Moses Kajwang. 

Taita Taveta Senator Johnes Mwaruma also sought to know the status of stalled Early Childhood Development (ECD) toilets, further raising concern about the children's welfare. 

“What happened to these ECD toilets stalled for years? So, are the pupils using bushes to relieve themselves?” he asked. 

Governor Kihika responded with a promise to give further details. “I don’t want to answer in a way that I will mislead the Senate."

The committee further pressed the governor to explain the irregular hiring and payment of private legal firms without approval from the County Attorney.  The law firms subsequently gobbled up Sh22 million. 

In her report, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu indicated that the payments had been made to the firms without contracts or any supporting documents. 

 But in her response, Kihika told the committee that the County Attorney, who was not present in the meeting, was best placed to answer the query. 

 Senators then recommended that the matter be investigated by EACC and those found culpable for the irregular payments be brought to book. 

 It also emerged that Nakuru County is operating without a County Public Service Board, an Audit Committee, a Chief Officer of Finance and a qualified Head of Accounting Services.

 “How are you, head of accounting services, yet you are not a member of ICPAK?" Asked Kajwang. "Governor, how does that work? Because those are positions of merit, they are not positions like the CECs’,” he said. 

Kihika response was that retirements and transfers had affected county operations, causing leadership gaps. 

 “We actually had one, but he recently retired, and we are currently recruiting for that position,” she said.