Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang'i, on Wednesday, October 27, revealed dubious ways used by government officials to loot funds allocated to government projects.
Speaking at the launch of the construction of 10,000 Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) classrooms, Matiang'i disclosed that some officials would intentionally create a backlog of bills to arm-twist the ministries to pay the unjustified bills.
The CS went ahead to reveal that the officials were conniving to the extend of manipulating genuine project contractors.
"There are some counties where we had big problems. A lot of work had been done but you could see that we had a backlog of so much money unpaid, and for a long time we kept urging with about the amount of money."
"At the headquarters, we were convinced that some people were creating this problem so that we finally tell them to cash the money and go and pay physically so that they can negotiate," Matiang'i disclosed
The Interior CS further explained that the multi-agency team overseeing the construction of the classrooms had to change their approach in order to safeguard the funds meant for the project.
"Unfortunately, we are not going to pay through any other way apart from M-PESA. We are going to wire money to the contractors so that there is no business of running around with vouchers. That is not going to happen.," the CS declared.
At the event, Matiangi also divulged that some of the individuals had already schemed ways of benefitting from the project, adding that they advocated for direct cash payments.
“Someone was telling us the other day and I thought it was strange. That we should send the money to the sub-county treasuries. Regional commissioners and sub-county commissioners, do we have sub-county treasuries?”
"We are Kenyans we know what happens in this country. It is very frustrating. We don't want to frustrate people and therefore affect the delivery of this project," Matiangi asserted.
On his part, Education CS, George Magoha, stated that the team would oversee the projects to their completion, adding that the classrooms would be completed on time as directed by the president.
"Please, let us ensure that we give government value for money. As we speak, there are those who are producing classrooms below the value that we have given you. This is a team and everyone is important, and the team is only strong as the weakest link," he affirmed.
This comes after, President Uhuru Kenyatta during the Mashujaa day celebrations, announced that his administration would undertake the construction of the classrooms as part of the government’s implementation of the new curriculum.
