Devolution CS Mwangi Kiunjuri yesterday sent NGO Coordination Board executive director Fazul Mahamed on compulsory leave.
He has also dissolved the entire board in a grand house cleaning.
Kiunjuri made the unprecedented move amid allegations that he pocketed Sh20 million bribe from NGOs and was demanding an equivalent amount to operationalise the Public Benefits Organisation Act.
It is understood that the minister took the drastic action on suspicion that Fazul was behind an alleged affidavit filed at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
Two weeks ago, Kiunjuri was reported to have asked to see Fazul’s academic papers for him to consider the NGO boss for reappointment according to the new PBO Act.
The Act, which came into force last month, demands that a new executive director for the NGO Co-ordination Board be appointed within three months of its operationalisation for a five-year term.
Among other things, the holder must have a Master’s degree from a recognised university. Fazul’s academic papers have been questioned.
“Fazul has been working closely with some people in government, who believe that the CS has a chance to play a big role in the Uhuru Kenyatta succession,” a senior official aware of the goings on in the Devolution ministry said.
However, yesterday the CS did not link Fazul to the affidavit and other documents that have been circulating claiming that the minister solicited for a bribe.
“Fazul did not meet the requisite qualifications at the time of his interview and appointment,” Kiunjuri said during a press conference in his office. “I have today decided that he proceed on leave as the matter is investigated.”
The bribery petition against Kiunjuri was sent to the anti-graft agency on Friday by Delphine Bram Christopher, an alleged expatriate in the NGO sector.
The petitioner claimed it was during one of their meetings at the Villa Rosa Kempinski that Kiunjuri expressly told the team to ensure they deliver “resources” to his trusted adviser and sister-in-law Wambui Kimathi.
“It’s at the parking that I gave the sum of $100,000 to Wambui for onward transmission to Kiunjuri after all we were under duress and the CS demanded it,” the petition reads in part.
But Kiunjuri claimed the petitioner is non-existent and the director of immigration has confirmed no such person was ever issued with a Kenyan visa or work permit.
The dossier named three NGO bosses as among those who met at a hotel in Nairobi to raise “facilitation” money to Kiunjuri.
These include Irungu Houghton, Associate Director of the Society for International Development, George Kegoro, Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Paul Healey, country director of Trocaire International.
But yesterday, the three dismissed the allegations. “We take great exception to these unfounded, baseless and slanderous allegations. They are meant to discredit ongoing efforts to transform the NGO sector and the leadership at the NGO Bureau,” they said.
There are allegations that the operationalisation of the PBO Act, which has been stopped in court, would trigger new recruitment at the NGO Coordination Board.
This would mean fresh recruitment for the job currently held by Fazul.
In November last year, the Registrar of Academic Affairs at Egerton Univeristy Prof SFO Owido, in a reply to an inquiry, confirmed that Fazul was discontinued on academic grounds in his third year by the senate on August 26, 2010.
This is despite the fact that in his CV Fazul indicated he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 2009.
In a letter to the National Council of NGOs dated September 10 last year, Owido said Fazul was admitted as a regular student in 2007 to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture.
He changed course through an inter-faculty transfer on September 27, 2007.
Fazul was discontinued for failing 50 per cent or more of all the credit factors taken in the ordinary exams of one academic year.
But Fazul, then dismissed the letter as malice because of his cleanup of NGOs. He said records of his academic qualifications are available for verification.
There was no evidence that Fazul went through vetting as required of all public servants. He did not also meet the requirements that the NGO board’s executive director must have served for 10 years in public service and hold a Master’s degree.
The EACC and police interrogated and recorded a statement from him.
Police also recorded statements from several people, including seven Egerton officials, Nacada staff and Fazul’s father, to establish if reports that the documents he presented during interviews at Nacada and the NGOs board are fake.
Police are reported to have traced Mahamed’s father, a cross-border truck driver, to Naivasha, where he recorded a statement about his son’s education.