Former Kwale Town Clerk Faces Sh17 Million Fraud Charge

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Maureen Mudi

14 July 2011

A former Kwale County Council town clerk yesterday appeared in court over the illegal tendering of a Sh17 million grader. Wilberforce Malanga Wambulwa, who is currently the legal services deputy directorat the City Council of Nairobi, and his colleague Amani Ali Makasi, did not however plead after the prosecution asked for time to have their statements and fingerprints.

The court had on Monday issued summonses for them to appear in court. Four other officials were in court on Monday to face fraud charges brought against them by the The Kenya Anti Corruption Commission. Yesterday, the assistant deputy public prosecutor Jacob Ondari urged the court to allow police to take the suspects’ statements and their fingerprints before they are charged.

Malanga and the other officials of the tender committee, who included the chief accountant, are accused of flouting procurement procedures when tendering for a grader. They are charged alongside Hadija Malo Mlingo, Mwinyi Nassoro, Festus Nyiro, Kahindi Kingi and Abdu Mohammed. They are said to have illegally awarded a tender for the grader to Willow Limited. The offence was allegedly committed on August 27 2009.

Malanga is accused of abusing his office by paying Sh6,034,483 for the grader which was not supplied within the time agreed in the contract. He also said to have irregularly paid Sh5,342,776 for the grader on April 7 last year at the Kwale council. The accused have been released on a case bail of Sh100,00 or surety bond of Sh400,000. The case will be mentioned tomorrow.

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