People claiming to be integrated IDPs from across the country camp outside the Nakuru Law Courts on April 06, 2017. DCI detectives have zeroed in on a cartel of 21 individuals behind IDP compensation fraud. FILE PHOTO | NMG
What you need to know:
Official said to have engineered illegal alteration of genuine IDP lists replacing them with bogus individuals
By 2017, the Jubilee administration through the then Devolution Cabinet Secretary, Mwangi Kiunjuri, reported that it had disbursed slightly over Sh17.5 billion as compensation funds for IDPs.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives have zeroed in on a cartel of 21 individuals said to be behind fraudulent schemes that led to loss of billions of shillings in compensation funds for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nandi.
The DCI officers say bogus IDPs were compensated at the expense of genuine 2007/08 post-election violence victims through a fraud plot hatched by a former top official at the National Coordination Consultative Committee (NCCC) for IDPs.
The former NCCC official is said to have engineered illegal alteration of genuine IDP lists replacing them with bogus individuals where who were later used to divert IDP compensation funds.
The suspected former NCCC official is also said to have headed a land fraud scheme where at least 100 acres of IDPs resettlement land were dished out to bogus individuals, including his close relatives.
IDP lists
The Nandi County Criminal Investigations Officer, Sammy Mukeku, confirmed that the former NCCC official is being sought for tampering with IDP lists and diversion of compensation funds.
“The suspect tampered with 2007/2008 post-election violence victims’ list and further manipulated the forest evictees lists while overseeing the vetting of the IDPs at the NCCC ahead of compensation; she later with help of 20 known accomplices used fake lists to divert IDP compensation funds to private use,” said Mr Mukeku in an interview.
Detectives are currently keeping an eye on the homes of the former NCCC official in Tinderet and Surungai in Nandi, and her other homes in Nyandarua and Timboroa.
Mr Mukeku said the former NCCC official has already written a statement over the alleged fraudulent activities at the Kapsabet DCI office last month but went underground after six of her accomplices were arrested in Kitale three weeks ago.
The Nandi County DCI office is also working closely with counterparts in Trans Nzoia, Uasin-Gishu, Kericho, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Kiambu and Kisii counties to arrest the former NCCC official’s accomplises.
The DCI has also revealed that the former NCCC official has been undertaking illegal registration of new IDPs despite the NCCC having officially closed registration of IDPs in Kenya in 2017.
Sh17.5bn compensation funds
By 2017, the Jubilee administration through the then Devolution Cabinet Secretary, Mwangi Kiunjuri, reported that it had disbursed slightly over Sh17.5 billion as compensation funds for IDPs.
“The run-away suspect has opened an office in Juja where with help of several accomplices who are also on our radar has been illegally registering new IDPs with promises of more compensation funds and land,” says a DCI report.
The police report further claims that each fresh registration costs between Sh3,000 and Sh25,000.
The teams of investigators from the DCI say they are questioning how the cartels managed to divert more than Sh1 billion meant for the genuine victims into private accounts.
At least 660,000 people were displaced during the 2007/2008 post-election violence as per reports from human rights organisations.
IDP network officials had sounded the alarm over high-level corruption within the NCCC.
The detectives are also investigating crucial government documents on IDPs that went missing from the NCCC offices in Posta Plaza Nairobi.
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