Former Nyandarua Governor Daniel Waithaka and Water County Executive Committee (CEC) member Grace Gitonga were on Thursday March 20, 2025 fined Ksh 1 million each or to serve 2 years in jail over procurement-related offenses.
The Nyahururu anti-corruption court also found the two guilty of abuse of office charges.
The duo was charged in 2018 with the offenses after investigations by EACC establishing the two irregularly awarded an Israel-based consultancy firm, M/s TAHAL Consulting Engineers Ltd, a Ksh50 million tender.
Sentencing the two, Chief Magistrate Evans Keago said he was convinced that though no funds were lost, the contract was awarded irregularly and without prior planning.
During the virtual court sentence, the defense lawyers pleaded for lenient sentencing, noting that the two were first offenders.
None of the accused was in the court, since the former governor is at Nairobi Hospital undergoing treatment.
His lawyers said that the former governor can neither walk nor talk, and could therefore not attend the court.
The sentencing was suspended until Monday 24, when the two are expected to present themselves in court for compliance.
At the same time, EACC regional deputy director Grace Omweri said the EACC welcomes the judgment.
The charges stem from a contract awarded in 2014 without adherence to procurement procedures.
This comes after the EACC commenced an investigation in 2018 following an allegation of corruption and procurement irregularities in the award of a tender for consultancy services to develop a County Water Master Plan and design the Ol Kalou Town Sewerage System.
It was alleged that the tender was awarded to an Israeli firm M/S TAHAL International Limited
In the contract documents, the governor signed on behalf of the Nyandarua County Government, contrary to the law.
Additionally, and in a strange twist of events, a company by the same name was registered in Kenya in 2016 and was paid Ksh. 50,470,513 through a bank account in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Immediately after the payment, the ‘consultant’ fled, never to be traced again. In spite of the said payment having been made, no services were rendered.
