Kenya Ports Authority boss arrested, faces abuse of office charges
Zaddock Angira and Anthony Mwangi
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) managing director Daniel Manduku and Kenya Revenue Authority commissioner Kevin Safari were yesterday arrested for allegedly engaging in corruption and abuse of office
The two are today expected to be charged with 11 offences that include abuse of office, connivance to commit an offence, willful disobedience of statutory duty, neglect of official duty, and conspiracy to defeat justice among others.
Last evening, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti confirmed Manduku’s arrest, saying he was being processed to appear in court.
“He is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow (today) morning. This is a new case from what is known in public,” he said.
One of the charges involves conniving to commit an offence under Section 9(1)(b) of the East African Community Customs Management Act by unlawfully gazetting the Nairobi Inland Cargo Terminal (NICT) as a KPA peripheral facility.
Manduku also faces several counts of wilfully disobeying the provisions of Section 58 (1)(2) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act by recommending the gazettement of the same cargo terminal as a KPA peripheral facility without the firm tendering for the same.
Safari, on the other hand, is also accused of abuse of authority by unlawfully gazetting area marked “B” on the Mitchell Cotts schematic layout plan as an exit which did not exist at the port. Another counts shows that he also gazetted area marked “P2” on the NICT schematic plan as a customs warehouse which also did not exist.
Manduku has been under investigations for the possible loss of Sh6 billion at KPA over the past one year.
The amount in question is inclusive of some Sh2.5 billion that investigators believe might have been lost in the ongoing rehabilitation of the Kisumu Port.
