Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-graft Commission (EACC) on Tuesday raided the home and offices of Laikipia County Assembly Speaker Lantano Nabaala in connection with allegations of academic forgery.
The EACC officers began their operation at the Speaker’s residence in Nairobi’s upscale Muthaiga estate before proceeding to the county assembly headquarters in Nanyuki. During the raid, they ransacked offices and combed through documents as part of the ongoing investigation.
Speaker Nabaala has already been questioned by investigators. According to EACC Central Region boss Japheth Baithalu, the raids were conducted to gather evidence and verify claims that the Speaker may have forged his academic qualifications.
Nabaala has been on the radar of the investigative agency for over a year, over allegations of acquiring his job using fake papers.
This prompted a section of Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) to write to the Commission seeking an investigation into the matter.
The developments come after EACC earlier on Tuesday revealed that nine county governors are currently under investigation over graft allegations.
EACC Chairperson David Oginde said that the Commission is pursuing the cases at various stages, describing the scale of graft in devolved units as alarming.
He disclosed that the investigations are not limited to governors but also target other senior and junior county officials.
“Unfortunately, we are pursuing quite a number of governors at the moment, nine governors, under scrutiny at different levels of their cases, which is a very high percentage. And it is not just governors; it goes all the way down to other staff in the counties,” he noted.
Meanwhile, last week, the Commission raided the offices and residences of six senior officials of Busia County on Wednesday in a Ksh1.4 billion tender investigation.
The operation was part of an ongoing investigation into irregular procurement practices, conflicts of interest, theft of public funds, and accumulation of unexplained wealth against the six officials.
The investigations centered on tenders valued at Ksh1.4 billion that were allegedly awarded to 26 proxy companies during the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years.
