National Youth Service was established in 1964 by Kenya’s National Government to provide young Kenyans essential skills and knowledge in personal and national matters (NYS,2018). The National Youth Service (NYS) was mandatory for all students until the late 80’s. After this time, it became optional.
In 2013, NYS was rebranded and launched by the Kenyatta Government in order to fulfill his promise to reduce youth unemployment. NYS relaunched with a new focus was designed to reach out and touch all communities in order to empower youths to gain basic paramilitary abilities, give them an opportunity to join Kenya Defence Forces, or to continue their training at tertiary schools. (NYS, 2018)
This paper describes the two scandals and evaluates the laws, policies and procedures that were not adhered to. This paper examines two scandals while examining the laws, procedures and policies that weren’t followed. Media and public have referred to the 2015 scandal as NYS 1; however, a much bigger scandal occurred in 2018 and has been dubbed ‘NYS 2.
The amount of money lost due to financial mismanagement at NYS 1 depends on the official who was interviewed or whether it is reported in a newspaper. Nevertheless, the majority of sources, such as prosecution, seem converge on KES 791,000,000.
The details of what took place at NYS, despite the fact that NYS 1 was acquitted of all charges on March 9, 2018, remain veiled in mystery. It is clear that NYS was robbed of hundreds of million dollars, but there’s no way to prove who did it. Anne Waiguru is alleged as the whistle-blower for the NYS scam. The scandal described below is based solely on the version of the prosecution. They were unable to obtain a verdict.
NYS’s scandal was a result of collusion between suppliers and insiders, whereby money was transferred to cover non-existent products or inflated prices. NYS allegedly purchased 18 condom dispensers, one for each gender, at a price of Kshs. 450.000, which is Kshs. 25,00 per unit, when the average cost should be Kshs. 8.900. The prices were therefore inflated 180%. Below is a list of similar instances.
NYS also purchased a Yamaha piano at Kshs 235,900, whose utility was not known. Fraud was committed by adding zeros to all transactions, as shown below.
Police investigations revealed that all transactions were manipulated to include zeros, resulting in a theft of 712 millions shillings (Citizen 2015).
The Director of Criminal Investigations, (DCI), deemed Mr. Adan Adanharakhe the most responsible for the crime cited, since his password had enabled the payment (Daily Nation). Adan Harakhe’s defence was that his password had been stolen. Payments were then made without his permission or knowledge.
Another shocking revelation was the way that banks allowed Ms Josphene Kabura, a hairdresser who had left her job, to withdraw huge amounts of money as cash. According to reports, Ms Josphene’s Kabura account received huge amounts of cash that were transferred immediately after crediting. Ms Josphene is currently charged with laundering Kshs 1,6 Billions through her family bank accounts (Daily Nation 2018). Eight senior bank managers have been charged separately with failing to alert the authorities to Ms Josphene’s suspicions about the transactions she was involved in (Daily Nation 2018).
NYS 2 exhibited more brazenness than NYS 1, with the alleged amounts of lost money exceeding the Kshs. 791 reported (Daily Nation). In May 2018, the NYS 2 scandal was revealed. In May 2018, the NYS 2 scandal was revealed. Over 40 people have been charged with fraud and released under bond. The overarching allegations are similar to NYS 1 in that the procured products were inflated. Money was then paid for items which had never been ordered, or delivered. For example, one firm received payment for 200 towels that cost Kshs 100,000 each. One firm received 100 million Kshs in return for 100 car tyres, which is equivalent to Kshs a tyre. One firm was paid Kshs. 40 Millions for supplying 3,000 blankets, which is Kshs. 13,000 each. Other firms, such as Ms Ngirita’s firm (Daily Nation 2018), were allegedly paid for doing nothing. Also, complete disregard
A number of individuals have been able to withdraw cash in large amounts.
Not adhering to laws, procedures and policies
Employees at NYS, banks, and suppliers did not follow certain laws, policies, or procedures. As per the Leadership and Integrity Act No. 19 of 2012 (Kenya Law, 2018).
Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2015 and its revised version in 2018 are usually the main guidelines for government procurement. NYS violated this act by paying for goods which were neither procured nor supplied. In addition, NYS violated the act by paying for goods that were not procured or supplied.
Banks on the contrary, failed to properly report suspicious transactions. By allowing large amounts of cash to be withdrawn, the banks were also in violation of their rules.
As a conclusion, it can be said that the two scandals have been perpetuated through collusion. They are in stark opposition to the above-listed rules.
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