• According to the university, Sankale was promoted from his substantive rank of Senior Accountant to Acting Chief Internal Auditor in June 2020 for his whistle-blowing role.
• Barely two months after assuming the new role, the university said that Sankale resigned citing personal reasons.
Image: MAASA MARA UNIVERSITY
Maasai Mara University has dismissed the ongoing rumours purporting that its ex- Chief Finance Officer Spencer Sankale Ololchike was fired for his whistle-blowing role.
Sankale was the Chief Finance Officer at the university who exposed the graft in the institution in 2019 in an investigative exposé, the 'Mara Heist' on Citizen TV.
In a letter seen by the Star, Sankale had claimed that he was sacked for sustained insolence to his employer.
Dismissing the Sankale’s claims, the university said on Wednesday in a statement signed by the chair of the University Council Kennedy Ole Kerei that he was sacked for gross misconduct and defamation towards his employer.
“Contrary to the media reports, Ololchike was not dismissed because of his whistle-blowing activities but due to his unrelenting insolence, cyberbullying, libel, and defamation towards his employer among other documented cases of gross misconduct,” part of the statement reads.
It added that there are more than twenty whistle-blowers and state witnesses who are still working in the institution and that Sankale was not the only whistle-blower.
According to the university, Sankale was promoted from his substantive rank of Senior Accountant to Acting Chief Internal Auditor in June 2020 for his whistle-blowing role.
“The elevation to the new position was to give Sankale unrestricted access to all information, including confidential information of the university so that he would directly report to the Council any anomalies for immediate corrective action.”
Barely two months after assuming the new role, the university said that Sankale resigned citing personal reasons.
Also, the varsity said that Sankale ignored several letters from the Council that had requested him to appear before the Council to explain the claims that he had made in the media about corruption in the institution after resigning.
On Tuesday, lobby groups demanded the immediate reinstatement of Sankale.
The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, Amnesty International Kenya, and Transparency International Kenya condemned Sankale’s dismissal by the university council.
"The Maasai Mara University Council, Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof. Onyango Kiche Magak and the University Management appear to continue the process of intimidation and interference of a key state witness in the ongoing Mara Heist case before the High Court," the lobby groups said.
"We call on you as the University Council to immediately and unconditionally reinstate Spencer Sankale Ololchike."
The group said Sankale’s dismissal is an attempt to interfere with a state witness in an ongoing legal case.