Child Welfare Society of Kenya (CWSK) Corruption
Let me begin by thanking you for the exemplary work that you do for this nation called Kenya.
The above mentioned entity is a State Corporation for the care, protection, welfare and adoption of children vide Legal notice 58 of 23/05/2014. Its patron is H. E. Uhuru Kenyatta and the CEO of the organization is Madam Irene Mureithi.
There is misuse and open looting of public funds here in the following ways; Cooked figures to indicate targets were met yet they were not. In the 2014/2015 financial year, the agency had received 0.8B KES to discharge its mandate to
Kenyans. The performance targets accompanying this 0.8B allocation is found in Annex 1 attached. By end of May 2015, the targets had not been completely met (Annex 2) and the purportedly met were cooked (check no 13 & 16 in Annex 2).
The responsibility of meeting the targets was given to one Paul Mwandikwa (new employee) who came from ILO. The officer went round various regional offices in the country meeting with various branch administrators and timelines and responsibilities were shared (ref pg 2 Annex 2).
To illustrate our frustration we as staff were made to look for list of names of children from schools to be prevented from child labor with the promise that they will be supported but this has not happened to date. We are
perceived as liars in schools we went to, this has earned us a bad reputation and nobody in
the head office gives a damn. The officer named above left because of frustrations.
The officer in charge of Education and skills development –Dominic was dismissed for questioning the cooked education support figures and why children in international schools were being supported using the money meant for children from poor families. As we speak targets for this financial year will not be met. You can take that to the bank. There are no efforts to meet the targets.
Centralization of activities
All matters are handled from the head office and by the CEO with the help of a few trusted lieutenants namely Esther Kihara, Felistus Mwikali and Maina (Finance). This is an organization where a transfer of a staff is agreed on at night and the HR isn’t aware. The CEO Micromanages everything. There is no clear structure or organizational framework.
In December 2015, regions were established in a bid to decentralize functions and staff were employed (Accountants) and posted to regions and offices were rented but this regions did not receive any money or mandate until their dissolution under unclear circumstances in 3rd Nov. 2015 (Annex 3).
Since then a majority of these staff that were affected are at home drawing salaries and awaiting further communication (corruption; why not post them elsewhere?) The real issue with these regions was that funds would have been decentralized and thus “they” could not control it.
We in the branches operate using a petty cash of 10,000/= reimbursed after use and it has to be checked by the CEO for it to be reimbursed (Government uses AIE decentralized to sub counties). It takes a month or so for it to be reimbursed. Surely how will you work? As an administrator in the county I am not even aware of how much the county is to get. If you ask you are sacked.
80% of the accountants and those who hold significant positions are from one tribe (Kikuyu). A response to an emergency for instance famine in some parts of Baringo or Turkana has to be done by staff from the Head office who are given per diems of more than 100,000/=. Why not use staff in Baringo or Turkana?
There is so much but let me stop at there
Delay in salaries and suspected non-remittance of tax deductions to KRA. There are two categories of staff. Those that solely work in CWSK offices and those who work in the Improving the Kenya Juvenile justice system Project funded by the EU through CESVI an NGO. This two categories are paid with money from the government. Where does the salary
from the EU go to? Reports from the EU project are edited and submitted to the ministry.
That aside, since July there have been unexplained or bogus explanations given for constant delay in salaries. These bogus explanations are given in the middle or end of the next month. Salary for July and August 2015 was paid in September 2015. As I write this I haven’t received my salary for February 2016 and I received my January salary on 14th February. Surely how do you service loans and pay utilities? (Ref Annex 4 & 5) this delays started after an anonymous email was sent to the official CWSK email with various allegations that are true. They are punishing us as a result of this.
Two emails were sent and here is a copy that I copied before it was deleted (Annex 6) this email was sent to counter it (Annex 7) I did not file tax returns because I was denied a p9 form yet PAYEE is deducted from my meager salary every month. The organization isn’t even updated to itax. (You can check for yourself Annex 8 is their PIN) This can only mean that CWSK is not remitting tax deductions to KRA.
Disparities in salaries
There are glaring disparities in salaries. There is no categorization of staff into job groups of by merit. There are drivers from the right tribe who earn double or triple the salaries of graduate social workers. A driver who is a form four leaver on employment to CWSK earns 35000/= while a diploma social worker earns the same amount. There are staff who earn 4 times higher than their counterparts with the same qualifications.
Church meetings using CWSK funds
Two meetings in the name of Capacity building were organized in 2015. Staff were hurriedly summoned through SMS to attend without fail. The first meeting took place between January 12th and 18th 2015 while the second meeting took place from 2nd to 15th February 2015 at PCEA St. Andrews Nairobi. These were not capacity building meetings, they were meetings for a church called power house ministry whose pastor is Irene Mureithi (CEO CWSK). Staff were forced to watch video preaching of Pastot Chris Oyakilome of Christ embassy for the entire period.
In the second meeting, “Healing ambassadors” were invited and facilitated using taxpayer’s funds. Those invited were Sipiwe (South Africa), two fellows from Ghana and one lady from Canada. Staff and children from Mama Ngina childrens home were the congregation of the ‘Church’. All these was done to prepare for healing school in April in SA where ‘healing miracles’ would be witnessed. Children with special needs were brought and thereafter taken to SA. They were used to steal money from the public.
All the bills including the purchase of new carpet to cover St. Andrews dais and essential sections including the purchase of drum sets were footed using taxpayer’s funds. These items have since disappeared.
Through the efforts of this whistleblower and other two brave heroes we raised the matter with two Standard group journalists and submitted evidence to them, they even sent a photographer who took a video of the event. One journalist got back to one of us that the media house had been instructed by powerful individuals not to publish the story. Trips to church meetings are still funded by CWSK as I write this.
Vehicles to branches
CWSK has bought vehicles (second hand) to be used by all branches. These vehicles have been parked at Mama Ngina Childrens home (South C) and only a few have been issued to branches. These cars are “Fueled” and someone is taking that allocation (just walk to Mama Ngina and see for yourself)
Conclusion
An organization that is meant to protect the vulnerable in the society is instead oppressing them. Who will speak for this voiceless fellows, it you and me. Help me and others to help the disadvantaged who are being robbed.
Signed;
Whistle Blower.