Politician, Gladys Chania, who contested the Woman Representative seat in 2017 and lost to Gathoni Wamuchomba, is said to have defrauded Kiambu County residents of millions of shillings, with false promises of linking their alcoholic family members to rehabilitation centres in the US.
The alleged con game is believed to run under the umbrella organization, 'Right At Home Rehabilitation Centre' which she founded after she returned from the UK, where she had gone for further studies.
Eric Gathogo and Martin Kahunguro, some of her alleged victims, have recorded statements at Thika Police Station, alleging that they lost Ksh 200,000 and Ksh 251,000 respectively, with the hope of flying to the US as promised by Ms Chania.
“I was making my payments via M-Pesa from April 2017 and concluded paying the amount totalling Ksh 251,350 late last year, with hopes that I would travel to the US, only for her to tell me that she owed me nothing,” Kahungura told an NTV reporter.
Also crying foul is East African Sub-Saharan African Safe Promotion Foundation, an NGO which was allegedly defrauded of Ksh 480,000.
The suspect had assured the organisation that she could use her contacts to influence aid from the African Development Bank.
Ms Chania is seen to have resorted to name-dropping as a means to convince her victims about her influence in both the local and international circles.
Her accusers alleged that at one time, she told them that she was related to the former Kenyan Ambassador to the US, Njeru Githae.
The victims maintained that they did not have a reason to doubt her, given her engagements in the media and political scenes.
In 2004, the woman flew to the US where she pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology at Phoenix University in Arizona and later a Master’s Degree in Child and Adult Psychology at Leicester University in the UK.
It was in the US where she purportedly came into contact with the mentally ill and focused on dealing with substance addiction, after which she started the NGO that is now on the spot.
Detectives trailing the suspect are said to have tricked her by posing as clients, who had a relative that desired to travel to the US, and sweetened the deal with a Ksh 200,000 downpayment to entice her out of hiding.
They then arrested her and took her to court where she was released on a cash bail of Ksh 50,000.
An arrest warrant was issued on August 22, after she skipped bail in another case that she has been associated with.
