Two former officials of the Ministry of Education have on March 12 been sentenced to seven and half years in prison by a Nairobi court.
The two, Kepha Oseko Mareki and Perminus Njoroge Kamau, were former accountants at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. They were found guilty of embezzling Ksh2.5 million.
Nairobi Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi while sentencing the two, said that they failed to comply with the laid down procedures.
This led to the embezzlement of public funds which could have otherwise being used to better the education system.
The two served at the ministry for over 13 years. Kamau served as the head cashier while Mareki served as an accountant.
They were convicted for withdrawing Ksh2.5million from the Central Bank of Kenya(CBK) claiming that funds were imprests.
Mareki, the accountant, had been sent a memo by his seniors warning him not to embezzle the cash. The court therefore said that he was an enabler of embezzlement.
The third convict, Dorothy Katunge Kisavi, was ordered to pay a fine of Ksh500,000. This was after the judge found her not guilty of any loss of funds.
Three other suspects, Catherine Wanjiru Ngugi, Thomas Kubende Lunani and Catherine Wanjiru Ngugi were acquainted and released by the court.
They faced a total of ten counts for fraudulent acquisition of public property, abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud and stealing by a person employed by the public service.
Cases of education officials stealing public funds have been witnessed in the country over the past years.
A former Ministry of Education official, Concelia Aoko Ondiek, was on March 3,2021 sentenced for two and a half years without the option of a fine after she was found guilty of stealing Ksh1.5 million of public funds.
