Raila leads mourners as Kajwang's body arrives at Lee Funeral Home (pictures)

Kajwang Mourners led by Cord leader Raila Odinga

 Breaking News: Nairobi 19/11/2014 Hundreds of mourners have gathered at the Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi to receive and view the body of the late Homa Bay senator Otieno Kajwang’ who died Tuesday night while undergoing treatment at Mater Hospital.

Cord leaders led by Raila Odinga have converged at the funeral home and are currently leading other mourners in viewing the body of the late charismatic leader.

Raila said that doctors had treated Kajwang’ for high blood pressure as well as cardiac arrest. He added that Kajwang’ had been in road accident in Oyugis recently but said he had was fine.

Raila called for calm from Cord supporters as they await the postmortem to be conducted on Kajwang’ to ascertain the exact cause of death.

Others present are Bungoma senator and Cord co-principal Moses Wetang’ula, Kakamega senator Boni Khalwale, Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang’, Kisumu deputy governor Ruth Odinga among other leaders.

 

Members of the public have formed queues to view the body of the late senator most famous for his rallying song Mapambano in the run-up to the 2007 and 2013 general elections.

No address has yet been made by the Cord top-brass as the third principal and Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka is yet to arrive at the funeral home.

Kajwang’ died Tuesday night at Mater Hospital where he was rushed after complaining of chest pains while at his South C home.

Doctors treating Kajwang’ for cardiac related complications later pronounced the former Mbita MP dead at about 11PM.

Kajwang’ served as the Minister for Immigration in the 2008-2013 coalition government formed by former President Mwai Kibaki and then Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

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Former Knec boss Paul Wasanga earned Sh700,000 annually to award printing tender for exam material to British firm

Former Kenya National Examination Council chairman Paul Wasanga is alleged to have received kickbacks amounting to Sh703,785 for every year that he awarded tenders for printing of examination documents to British firm Smith and Ouzman.

The damning allegations surfaced in an ongoing fraud case before the Southwark Crown Court in London, UK where the firm is accused of unduly influencing tendering processes for organisations in foreign countries.

This is in contravention of the European nation’s Prevention of Corruption Act (1906) which bars undue influence on employees of foreign governments to have decisions made in favour of British businesses.

Former KNEC chairman Paul Wasanga

Although the prosecution lawyers and the forensic experts from the Serious Fraud Office who have pressed the charges are yet to establish how many years Wasanga received the kickbacks, they have said that in 2009 and 2010 alone, the Kenya government through the Ministry of Education paid a Sh40 million to Smith and Ouzman for Optical Mark Reader forms used in KCPE examinations, certificates, photo collection forms and mark sheets.

“The corrupt payments were built into Smith and Ouzman’s pricing of the printed materials so that the inflation in the price as a result of that corruption was passed onto those funding the institutions that contracted with Smith and Ouzman,” prosecution lawyers said according to court documents.

In the duration of the dealings between Knec and Smith and Ouzman, the court was also furnished with details of Wasanga’s annual trips to the UK, fully paid for by the printing firm to maintain a work relationship.

The court documents further detail proceedings in which prosecution said that Knec officials Mwai Nyaga the deputy CEO, Geoffrey Gitogo the ICT manager, Ephraim Wanderi and Michael Ndua the principal supplies officer each received Sh90,000 to facilitate the awarding of the tenders.

Smith and Ouzman’s country agent Trevy James Oyombra received authorisation from the firm’s top brass, which was mainly the former chairman Christopher Smith and his son Nick Smith the sales and marketing director, to pay the Knec officials after receiving payment for the examination documents.

The court also heard how Smith and Ouzman extended the gratuity payments and gestures to the family of the Knec officials, a thing which Christopher Smith said was above board as they were gifts given to the families of friends.

“There is nothing wrong in giving gifts to a friend. It was, however, no coincidence that the gifts to Wanderi’s son were made at the time Smith and Ouzman were on a drive to get back the business with Knec which they had lost,” the prosecutor told the court.

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Raila demands resignation and arrest of Hassan, Chirchir and others named in 'Chicken' scam

The Cord coalition has called for the immediate resignation, arrest and trial of IEBC chairman Isaac Hassan, Energy CS Davis Chirchir and others allegedly involved in a Sh50 million electoral material scam.

Cord leader Raila Odinga termed the allegations “very damaging and very shameful", saying “accountability must begin at the top”, during a press conference on Tuesday.

“We demand the immediate arrest of Mr Trevy James Oyombra who is reported to have been the Kenyan making hefty payouts to Kenyan officials to influence the award of printing contracts to the UK firm. He must be sought and held to account," he said.

Raila further demanded the investigation and audit of all commissioners and principal officers of the IEBC.

He said KCB, to which money was allegedly transferred for Oyombra for onward distribution, must help the investigations and disclose how much was transferred to those implicated.

He said that those who worked at the IEBC but have since been deployed elsewhere or sacked must also be investigated.

“We demand answers on what the government knows and when they knew it. We refuse to be party to the conspiracy of silence. What is being adduced in court in London points to a serous, baffling and shameful integrity and credibility gap on the part of these present and former officers and an indictment of the Jubilee regime.

"It cannot be that Jubilee does not know what these officers did. We have an intelligence service that is required to do background checks on people before they are appointed to key public positions like that of Cabinet Secretary,” Raila added.

He said the accused who asked for “chicken” from the printing company took their corrupt ways, integrity questions and credibility gaps into an election, saying the case was similar to what happened just before independence

“We maintain that we cannot let the past and its ghosts rest. We reject the doctrine of “accept and move on” while our nation suffers. We must take charge of the future," Raila stated.

Chirchir, Gladys Shollei and James Oswago are among five former IIEC officials named for colluding with a British printing firm, Smith and Ouzman, to defraud the public coffers of the money in an ongoing case before a British court. Chirchir was then IIEC's senior manager.

Officials serving in the IIEC, that preceded the IEBC, asked for bribes to influence the awarding of a printing tender for electoral documents to Smith and Ouzman, prosecution lawyers working with forensic auditors from the UK’s Serious Fraud Unit told the Southwark Crown Court.

The others implicated in the case are suspended IEBC CEO James Oswago who served in the same capacity at the IIEC, former chief registrar of the judiciary Gladys Boss Shollei who was IIEC's Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, lawyer Kennedy Nyaundi who was a commissioner and senior procurement officer and financial director Kenneth Karani.

Trevy James Oyombra who brokered the deal between the IIEC and the printing firm was also mentioned as one of the beneficiaries of the kickbacks. Hassan is not directly mentioned in the case.

Smith and Ouzman won tenders to print ballot papers used in the 2013 General Election and Knec certificates.

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IEBC DEMANDED 'CHICKEN' FROM UK PRINTING FIRM

A BRITISH printing firm paid kickbacks of up to Sh40 million to secure contracts for the printing of Kenya's ballot papers and examination certificates, a UK court has been told.

Southwark Crown Court heard that the company, Smith & Ouzman Ltd., targeted senior officials to win the tenders in a number of African countries.

In Kenya, the company won a tender to print ballot papers used in the 2013 General Election and Kenya National Examinations Council certificates.

Evidence tendered in court showed that the directors of the company and conduits for the money used the coded word “chicken” for the bribes they paid out.

Among the emails presented in court is one saying that “we will definitely give them the chicken”.

In an email from Trevy James Oyombra to Christopher Smith on December 29, 2008, Trevy details a meeting and confirms he has promised a public official some chicken, it was said.

“Hello Smith, I was successful in the mission - two hours of his time, we spoke at length, he was also surprised I knew a lot of procurement regulations and loopholes...”,' wrote Trevy.

“Well, he has given me a lot of back information that would be helpful to you.

“First he asked me if you were a nice guy and if you gave chicken and yes, I told him that is why I was there.

“He is very comfortable working with me because I told him we have to work with you and you will make that change in his life.”

There was also a suggestion to “increase costs in a reasonable manner” and emails confirming “we will definitely give them the chicken”, jurors heard.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Issack Hassan said that he was aware of the UK court case, but added that the commission does not know its specifics.

He also said that the tendering process was done aboveboard and a company that challenged the award lost the case in court.

"We are not aware of any person who has received a bribe over the tender. The commission is also made up of nine commissioners, including myself, nine directors, and over 40 managers. We are not aware that any of them have received the bribes as alleged," Hassan said.

Knec CEO Joseph Kivilu maintained that he has only read about the allegations in the media and that none of his staff has been linked to the sleaze directly.

"None of the staff here has been accused directly," he told the Star on the phone. “The case is still in court, let it conclude and then we shall see what comes out."

Appearing in court are Christopher Smith, 71, the chairman of Smith & Ouzman Ltd., and his son, sales and marketing director, Nicholas Smith, 42. They have been accused of bribing senior government officials in Africa to secure the lucrative tenders.

Also charged is Tim Forrester, described as the company's international sales manager. Evidence also shows that 47-year-old Forrester and company agent Abdirahman Omar, 38, were involved in the alleged plot, between November 2006 and December 2010.

Source: the star

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