Former Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) CEO Catherine Namuye has died.
Nairobi police boss Japhet Koome confirmed that Ms Namuye collapsed and died at her home in Kileleshwa on Wednesday.
According to Koome, neighbours called the police after they heard people screaming from Ms Namuye's house.
[caption caption="Catherine Namuye"]
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Medics who attended to her did not see any physical injuries and she was pronounced dead at her home.
The body was taken to Lee Funeral Home awaiting a postmortem examination.
She was first appointed as acting CEO of the Youth Fund in February 2013 upon the suspension of the then boss, Juma Mwatata Mwangala, who had been sent packing over allegations of purchasing 1,050 hatching machines at a cost of Sh208 Million without the YEDF board’s approval.
In 2016, Namuye was accused and charged with 12 counts of corruption in relation to the loss of Sh180 Million of taxpayers' money.
When Ms Namuye appeared before Parliament’s Public Investments Committee (PIC) on March 17, she was keen to save her job and avoid becoming part of the statistics of jinxed CEOs of the YEDF that was formed with the sole purpose of reducing unemployment among the youth.
An emotional Namuye claimed that then YEDF board chairman Bruce Odhiambo forced her to pay Quorandum Ltd Sh180 Million for a contract to develop a suspect Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) strategy.
Ms Namuye and Mr Odhiambo were charged with 12 counts of corruption alongside the directors of Quorandum Ltd, Mukuria Ngamau and Doreen Waithera.
Namuye and Odhiambo were accused of receiving Sh4.5 Million and Sh1.8 Million in kickbacks from Quorandum that prosecutors said “they had reasons to believe was corruptly acquired from the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.”
Prosecutors said that between November 17, 2014 and May 4, 2015, in Nairobi, the suspects conspired to defraud the public through “unlawful payment of Sh180,364,789 from the Youth Enterprise Development Fund to Quorandum Limited for services not rendered.”
