Kidero grilled for hours by anti-graft team over City Hall contracts
Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero was on Wednesday interrogated by anti-corruption detectives over contracts awarded by City Hall.
He was questioned for two hours by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives in Nairobi.
The county boss, who is already facing hostilities from some ward representatives who want to impeach him, arrived at Integrity Centre, the commission’s headquarters, at 1pm and left shortly before 3pm.
SHED LIGHT
Commission head of communications Kairichi Marimba said: “He (Dr Kidero) came to shed light on some contracts that have been awarded by City Hall. We cannot go into the specifics at the moment.”
But the governor had a different story regarding the session.
“I was there to follow up on an agreement the City county government signed with the EACC in 2013. It entails that EACC to train the county staff on fighting corruption and we agreed all staff will be trained. The training, we also agreed, will start on October 24,” he said.
Nairobi senator Mike Mbuvi has in the past lodged complaints with the commission alleging that the county government was involved in high level corruption.
It was not immediately clear the nature of the contracts the anti-graft team is investigating.
On his impeachment, the governor successfully blocked it in court but the county assembly went ahead with the motion to oust him but it flopped after a big number of MCAs boycotted the sitting and was thus adjourned for lack of quorum.
The motion will be reconsidered once the case filed by Dr Kidero challenging his impeachment bid is heard and determined.
The assembly went to court to quash Dr Kidero’s application and allow the motion to be debated.
POLITICALLY MOTIVATED
Mr Walter Mong’are, Dr Kidero’s communication officer, had indicated the motion was politically motivated.
In the motion sponsored by Viwandani MCA Samuel Nyangwara, Dr Kidero is accused of failing to control the county’s ballooning debt, now standing at Sh42 billion, irregular awarding of tenders and abuse of office.
The assembly has been divided in the past few weeks, with ODM members clashing with Jubilee MCAs, leading to scuffles in the chambers.
Mr Nyangwara further claims failure to disclose the debts by the governor amounts to gross misconduct as it is against the law.
Dr Kidero was given a chance to tell his side of the story to the assembly but he did not presented himself.
He is accused of flouting procurement laws.
The MCA also sought answers on why the governor “diverted to other uses funds meant for free maternity”.
