FILE photo of Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta with former Transport CS James Macharia
Hidden skeletons of Uhuru Kenyatta’s catastrophic regime have come back to haunt his enablers.
The latest casualty is former Transport CS James Macharia, who played a dominant role during Uhurus’s 10-year regime as a powerful lieutenant.
His blind loyalty to the boss saw him go to great lengths just to stay in his good books.
By the second term, Mr. Macharia was the official Chief Looting Agent for the Kenyatta family, a duty he carried out so diligently that he quickly rose above the law to become one of the most dreaded men in his docket.
During the heated electioneering period, renowned lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi, who was firmly in President William Ruto’s camp, kept calling for Mr. Macharia to be investigated.
He constantly referred to him as one of Uhuru’s dollar billionaire CSs.
At the time, he was using his position to siphon tax payers’ funds from the Transport Ministry into Azimio La Umoja’s campaign secretariat – the losing team led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
A fresh audit shows that during Macharia’s tenure as CS, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) lost billions on two flagship projects; the botched Greenfield Terminal, and Second Runway at JKIA that were later abandoned under controversial circumstances.
In a report presented to Parliament, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, has expressed fears the monies might never be recovered.
According to the report, in the wee days of the Uhuru Kenyatta administration, the authority paid out Sh48 million while another Sh85 million was paid in July 2016.
Sinohydro Corporation Limited, the contractor, is seeking compensation to the tune of Sh30.8 billion in penalties and idle equipment.
Despite the huge payments, Kenyans are yet to see the 50 international check-in counters, 10 domestic check-in counters, 32 contact gates, eight remote gates, aprons, and 45 aircraft stands and taxiways that were envisioned in the Greenfield project.
The second runway is equally a white elephant, with travellers and exporters having to queue for take-off from time to time.
KAA also paid Sh4.3 billion to Chinese giant Anhui Construction Engineering Group Ltd in a joint venture with China Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation (ACEG-CATIC).
Another Sh216 million was paid to the project consultant – Louise Berger – yet there was no evidence of work done.
KAA told the Public Investments Committee of the 12th Parliament that the billions were an advance payment to the contractor and the consultant.
Over Sh75 million spent on the project’s groundbreaking ceremony on December 3, 2013.
Ex-President Kenyatta attended the ceremony where he hailed the project as one that would “confirm Kenya’s place as the region’s aviation hub”.
The KAA management approved the expenditure, yet it was not part of the original scope of work, hence was an “irregular variation”.
Audit firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers was paid Sh7 million for technical advisory service on project financing, which an earlier audit flagged as a nugatory expenditure.
Gathungu, in her latest review, says the audit queries touching on the project remain unresolved to date.
KAA is faced with court disputes totalling Sh32.8 billion – pending cases, tax assessment, and disputed pending contract claims.
The recent revelations mirror what awaits the President William Ruto administration as it seeks to revamp the project.
The audit further revealed that there are duplicate title deeds for Kisumu International Airport.
KAA did not also provide supporting documents for Sh190 million it said was spent in acquiring land for the expansion of Kisumu Airport.
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