Why activist wants President Ruto to declare City Hall a crime scene
Nairobi County Assembly Clerk Edward Gichana is in trouble following a petition filed before the High Court by a Nairobi activist, Francis Awino, under the Concerned Citizens Alliance.
The activist has asked President William Ruto to declare City Hall a crime scene where public money is allegedly being looted.
“President Ruto must declare City Hall a crime scene, seal it off and get heads rolling to save public money,” Mr Awino said.
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According to Mr Awino, his move to file a petition has been prompted by massive embezzlement and looting of public funds as indicated by the recent report from the Auditor General, which highlighted how counties spend their money in the 2021/2022 financial year.
The group says that hundreds of millions of tax payer’s money have been looted and siphoned through fictitious imprest payments, legal fees, ghost workers, statutory and pension deductions.
The human rights crusader stated that during the 2021/2022 financial year as per the court papers, irregular procurement of conference facilities and air tickets were made by the Clerk through requests totaling Sh5.3 million, where only one bidder in each award responded instead of at least three as required by the law.
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The case, which was received by Duty Judge N. Mugambi on September 27, will be mentioned on October 31, 2023.
The activist now wants the Nairobi City County Public Service Board to immediately declare the position of the County Assembly Clerk vacant and commence the process of recruiting another clerk.
The activist also wants the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to start the investigation at the Nairobi County Assembly and forward the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for prosecution.
“The Clerk, Mr Edward Gichana to resign with immediate effect within seven days failure to which we shall mobilize our members to hold demonstrations and camp at the Nairobi City County Assembly office by Article 37 of the constitution,” Mr Awino said.
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