A damning expose aired by Citizen TV on Sunday evening, unearthing corruption on a grand scale at the Maasai Mara University in Narok, landed one of the whistleblowers in hot soup.
The investigative feature compiled by two of the station's journalists, Asha Mwilu & Waihiga Mwaura, included the personal testimony of Spencer Sankale, one of the four individuals who laid bare the wanton corruption at the public university.
Spencer, who had served as the acting finance officer before his demotion in August 2017, secretly made recordings of illegal cash transactions he was allegedly instructed to make by the school's Vice-Chancellor (VC), Professor Mary Walingo.
Once Waihiga and Mwilu reached out to Professor Walingo armed with evidence of misappropriation of funds, fraud, and abuse of office, she summoned Spencer the moment she had learned of the damning allegations, going on to threaten him and assured him that she would drag him down with her once formal investigations were launched.
"You want a fight? I say bring it on. But I want to assure you that you're going nowhere. I brought you from nowhere, I was sharpening a knife that would end up stabbing me? I have decided, let's fight now. You've called them and they're coming, don't make the mistake of thinking I'm going down alone, you'll go first then I'll follow," Walingo asserted, unaware that Spencer was covertly recording the entire conversation.
Spencer had furnished the investigative journalists with audio and video tapes made over a period of two years, which articulated how the entire syndicate managed to siphon over Ksh190million from the school's accounts.
The incriminating evidence pointed at the VC, Spencers' replacement after his demotion, Anaclet Okumu, and Walingo's driver Noor Abdi, as the main culprits.
According to the former acting finance officer's statement, the three key suspects used to make regular withdrawals using shady documentation adding up to Ksh10 million in a week.
Noor is implicated as the main conduit used by the VC to order Spencer to make the undocumented cash withdrawals, with the whistleblower going on to reveal that the driver used to speak in codes during such instances.
In one of the recordings, Noor could be heard stating, "Ile Ng'ombe kubwa inahitaji nyasi, bunde mbili na nusu, which was a coded message that translated to, the VC needs Ksh 250,000."
After reporting the details of the grand heist to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Spencer was asked whether he fears the consequences of what he did, he maintained that he was ready for anything, adding that he'd rather die on his feet, than live on his knees.
