Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) Director General Ezra Chiloba was suspended on Monday after two years on the job.
At the time, the Authority did not divulge details as to why Chiloba was suspended with immediate effect and replaced by Christopher Wambua in an acting capacity.
Kenyans.co.ke has since established that the recommendation to suspend Chiloba was arrived at during a special board audit and risk assurance committee meeting that was held on August 8, 2023.
During the meeting, the committee further recommended the suspension of; Human Resources, Legal Services, and Finance directors as well as the Internal Auditor.
According to minutes of the meeting, the five were accused of mismanagement of the staff mortgage scheme where the government ended up losing millions of shillings.
“Valuers and Quantity Surveyors (QS’s) involved in professional misconduct of overvaluing properties should be reported to the professional bodies while staff found culpable of colluding with the valuers be sanctioned,” the committee recommended then.
In particular, Chiloba and his team were found to have valued properties at a higher value using the Authority’s valuers.
The committee noted that there was a material variance of more than 20 per cent in property valuation between the government and privately contracted valuers.
The August 8 meeting further found out that there were defaults amounting to Ksh28.9 million on staff mortgages.
The mortgages were found to have been approved and granted without consideration of the contract term.
Chiloba and his team were also accused of understating loan balances for former staff of CA as well as refinancing mortgages in the amount of Ksh364 million for current CA employees without evidence of upgrades of their purchased houses.
“Management should hold those responsible to account and recover the liabilities within the next 30 days,” the minutes read in part.
Additionally, the committee recommended a relook at all loans in the loan book and disciplinary measures be undertaken on Chiloba and the four other officers as well as any new officers found with similar cases.
