Do you remember the 2016 Rio Olympics scandal? Millions of money allocated to the Olympic can’t be accounted for by the officials that were in charge.
A Parliamentary committee has now given Kenya’s Ambassador to Russia, Mr Richard Ekai, three months to explain how he used Sh42 million during his tenure as Sports ministry Principal Secretary failing which he should be charged with misuse of public funds.
The National Assembly Public Accounts Committee wants the former PS to explain how the ministry disbursed funds amounting to Sh42,979,650 to organisations that had not complied with the Sports Act, 2013 as far as registration is concerned.
The committee, in a report tabled in the House on Wednesday, wants the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate the circumstances under which the funds were disbursed.
The Opiyo Wandayi-led committee wants the investigative agencies to establish whether there was a breach of procurement laws and facilitate prosecution accordingly.
“Where no satisfactory explanation is provided to the CS National Treasury and Auditor-General within the stipulated time, Mr Ekai should be charged with incurring expenditure of Sh42,979,650 without lawful authority,” reads the report.
“Within three months of adoption of this report, the National Treasury CS withholds any funds earmarked to be disbursed to any organisation that is not registered … until the ministry tables a report demonstrating compliance of all affected organisations,” further reads the report.
Section 47 of the Sports Act, 2013 states that a body shall not operate as a sports organisation unless it is registered under the Act.
In addition, the Act stipulates that an existing sports organisation that does not apply for registration within the time prescribed shall not be recognised as a sports organisation for the purposes of this Act.
But the committee report indicates that the Sports ministry disbursed the said money on a patriotic basis to some organisations which had not complied with the Sports Act, 2013
The committee also established that there were no internal regulations to monitor the activities and operations of sporting organisations under the ministry contrary to the provisions of section 73 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
Just last month, Mr Ekai and 2016 Rio Olympic Games Team Kenya Chef De Mission Stephen Soi were charged with graft at the Anti-Corruption Court alongside former National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOCK) Secretary-General Francis Kanyili and deputy treasurer Stephen Soi who was the team leader.
The prosecution levelled six counts of abuse of office and four counts of wilful failure to comply with the law relating to the management of public funds against the three.