EACC to arrest five Kitui officials over misappropriation and diversion of COVID-19 money to Kicotec

In a letter to Senate dated October 7, the CEO for  EACC, Twalib Mbaraka, said EACC completed investigations and forwarded the file to the Director of Public Prosecution on July 10th, 2024 recommending the prosecution of the five.

Mbarak said the five are supposed to be charge  for various corruption and economic crimes offenses.

The crimes are related to the diversion of Covid-19 funds to acquisition equipment for Kicotec.

Mbarak’s letter said that the  EACC had earlier received complaints that Sh. 500 million meant for Covid-19 in the year 2019-2020  was misappropriated and part of it diverted to Kicotec for supply of equipment.

He said the  anti -graft body launched investigations and it was established that the County Government of Kitui received  Sh. 120 million and Sh. 300 million as conditional grant meant, specifically, for Covid-19 intervention.

The EACC boss  said  it was also established that the guidelines for the use of the funds issued by the Ministry of Health was for the funds to be used only for Covid-19 related activities.

Mbarak said it was however established that the funds were not used for Covid-19  activities but for purposes other than that for which they were intended, hence the funds were misappropriated.

MWINGI TIMES has accessed  the EACC boss's  letter, in the heels of  revelation by the institution's  spokesperson, Eric Ngumbi, in Kitui a week ago that EACC will  visit Kitui and make some arrests in the coming weeks.

He said the Kitui officers will be arrested  for graft following the conclusion of investigations on the mismanagement of Covid-19 funds.

Ngumbi who had attended  the  burial  of  Agnes Musya, who was the mother of an EACC officer in Kyuso, Mwingi North sub-county of Kitui on December 6th, said EACC would soon come knocking. He said because investigations take time to conclude, some people suspected to engage in graft get deluded that they have been let off the hook. He said such people in Kitui were in for a big surprise.

“There are people who think that because investigations appear to take time, work is not taking place. These are people who are only yet to be caught up by the law,”  he said.

He added that after some people  were arrested in Bomet, EACC would sooner than latter be swarming on the Ukambani counties where investigations over a numbers of graft cases have been going on.

Ngumbi said that 138 Kitui County Government  revenue officers who allegedly pocketed Sh.11.3 million  revenue they had  collected  were to be investigated.