By Eric Wainaina @PeopleDailyKe
When Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu successfully shifted his political base from Nairobi to Kiambu in 2015, after losing the city gubernatorial contest in 2013, he was envied by many.
In fact, the former Embakasi lawmaker popularly known as Baba Yao, used the Kabete parliamentary seat which fell vacant following the death of MP George Muchai, as a launch pad for the Kiambu governor’s seat.
Waititu aptly captured his political adventure thus: “I just roam just like that, but I always have the favour of God.”
He went on to hand his predecessor William Kabogo an embarrassing defeat both during the Jubilee Party primaries and in the main election.
A day before the 2017 General Election, a confident Waititu had told Kabogo: “The truth of the matter is that tomorrow (election date), I will beat you thoroughly, and please if I do, don’t go to a hospital.”
His victory was part of the rise and rise of the streetwise politician, who started as a city councillor, a deputy mayor in the defunct City Council of Nairobi and then a Member of Parliament in 2007 when he was appointed assistant minister.
So popular was Waititu that during the campaigns he coined a slogan, “Rita riri tiracina nyoka na matumbo mayo (This season, we are cremating the snake and its eggs), which he regularly used in his campaign rallies. The “snake” was Kabogo and the eggs were his (Kabogo’s) supporters.
By cremation, Waititu, who often quipped that his political force was equivalent to a three-phase power line, meant kicking out all Kabogo’s allies for siding with an inept and oppressive regime. And it happened.
But the abrasive politician, who is viewed by many as a man who has little regard for etiquette and the rule of law, appears to be on a major downfall, from his waning popularity in Kiambu where he was voted overwhelmingly to yesterday’s arrest over alleged economic crimes.
The governor who often dons buggy trousers, untucked oversize shirts and a hat, is grappling with allegations of incompetence and presiding over a corrupt administration that has been milking the county treasury dry and using the loot to spruce up his lifestyle.
Waititu was arrested after presenting himself at Integrity Centre, the headquarters of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, after the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji ordered his arrest, his wife Susan Wangari and eight others.
The governor surrendered to the EACC after being sought for hours by the police.
His lawyer Kipchumba Karori, said the governor had been “out of town since Friday evening” when news broke that he was wanted for prosecution.
Proceeds of corruption
“He arrived last (Saturday) evening and he has presented himself now to the authorities. There was confusion,” the lawyer said.
Waititu and his team are accused of fraudulent accusation of public funds, money laundering, flouting procurement laws, conflict of interest and abuse of office in relation to Sh588 million road tenders awarded to a company belonging to his associate last year.
The Kiambu county boss is expected to face three charges including conflict of interest, dealing with a suspect property and willful failure to comply with procurement law and engaging in fraudulent procurement process and money laundering.
The DPP recommended the charges after the EACC submitted the Kiambu file to him on July 9.
The tenders were awarded to Testimony Enterprise that is owned by Charles Chege and his wife Beth Wangeci, who are expected to be charged alongside Waititu and Lukas Wahinya, the chief officer for roads.
Forensic investigations and bank records show Testimony advanced Sh25 million to Saika Two Estate Developers Ltd owned by the governor and his daughter Monica Njeri to buy Bieneveu Delta Hotel Limited, which is owned by Waititu and his wife.
The hotel received another Sh18 million believed to be proceeds of corruption from Testimony.
The beleaguered governor, also known as Wakahare (squirrel), a name that was given to him by Kabogo during the campaigns allegedly because of some of his perceived unpleasant manners, is expected in court this morning and once he takes plea, he will have to leave office.
He may find himself becoming the first casualty of the ruling made on July 24 by Justice Mumbi Ngugi ordering governors charged with economic crimes to vacate office for the duration of their trial. This means Waititu will have to stay at home until he is cleared.
“Would it serve the public interest for him (a governor charged with graft) to go b-ack to office and preside over the finances of the county that he has been charged with embezzling from? What message does it send to the citizen if their leaders are charged with serious corruption offences, and are in office the following day, overseeing the affairs of the institution?” read Ngugi’s judgement in part.
To deepen his woes, Waititu and his wife risk losing a multi-million-shilling property in Nairobi being targeted by investigators for seizure as it is believed to have been purchased from proceeds of corruption. This comes even as crime busters continue digging for more graft claims which could see the disgraced governor face more charges.
Unearth mess
Besides the suspected Sh588 million graft, EACC is also investigating a controversial rehabilitation programme dubbed Kaa Sober, said to have gobbled up close to Sh1 billion without approval.
In May, a day before EACC detectives picked him up from his Kencom home, Kiambu County Assembly rushed and passed a supplementary budget in which it approved an expenditure of Sh722 million under the programme.
This was widely seen as a scheme to regularise the controversial expenditure in which millions of shillings are suspected to have been stolen through the programme which has been trashed by county leaders led by Senator Kimani Wamatangi and experts in alcohol rehabilitation.
EACC has been collecting information from villages to unearth the mess and Kiambu Assembly Majority Leader Gideon Gachara confirmed the sleuths had visited some wards in a fact-finding mission which could lead to another possible arrest.
Though the governor says he doesn’t like showing off, in recent times, he has been boasting of his riches and political experience as he tries to defend his wealth and trashing the ongoing probe.
“There are so many things that many do not know about me and the next time they should ask me to take them round so that they can see my wealth. I will show them and (when they see what I own) will commit suicide,” Waititu told mourners in Mburiria, in May.
Bad leadership
Beside the graft probe, Waititu’s political ship has also been going down and tables turned on him after unhappy ward reps replaced his allies in key leadership posts in the county assembly.
In what was previously unthinkable, Majority Leader Antony Ikonya, chief whip James Mburu and their deputies, who were his allies, were sacked over claims of conspiring with the governor and Speaker Stephen Ndicho to kill the independence of the assembly.
Ikonya was replaced with Gachara, one of the governor’s critics, in what only serves to deepen his political woes.
Waititu’s popularity is also plummeting, with the electorate angered by his alleged bad leadership, which they claim is taking President Uhuru Kenyatta’s home county to the dogs.
Already, the governor has begun experiencing heckling and pockets of protests.
Waititu’s run-ins with the EACC over corruption claimed its first victim, the Kiambu Principal Magistrate Bryan Khaemba, in June, when he resigned after being interdicted. Khaemba had issued Waititu with anticipatory bail of Sh500,000 under questionable circumstances.
For now, it seems for Waititu that when it rains, it pours.
