How DP Ruto’s chief of staff got involved in 65 billion scandal, seemed an influence from the boss

Ken Osinde, the diplomat linked to Sh65 billion dams in North Rift is not a stranger within Gusii politics given his boardroom deals on behalf of Jubilee Party in the last six years.

The Director of criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that Osinde, DP William Ruto’s Chief of Staff, through the insurance company where he is a director, was paid Kshs 47 million by the controversial Italian firm CMC Di Ravena.

According to Daily Nation Newspaper, Osinde, a confidant of the DP, is listed as a director of an insurance company that reportedly received the money from the controversial firm.

The firm, CMC Di Ravena, had been contracted by Kerio Valley Development Authority in 2017 to construct Arror and Kamwarer dams worth Sh65 billion and the National Treasury had already released Sh21 billion for work not done.

With Mr Osinde now on the limelight, the former ambassador to Germany is not a stranger to controversy. Former Kitutu Masaba MP Timothy Bosire has often implicated him in alleged voter bribery that saw Jubilee’s Shadrack Mose toppling him.

Born in 1962 at Borabu in Nyamira, Osinde is a holder of MBA from the University of Nairobi and spent much of his time as a lecturer. He would later join the insurance business which he practiced until 2010.

Retired President Mwai Kibaki picked him as Kenya’s envoy to Germany and is credited to lobbying for first ever direct flights from Mombasa to Berlin.

In 2017, Deputy President William Ruto named him as his Chief of Staff after the unprecedented exit of Maryanne Keitany, a position he has held to date.

The latest scandal that he has been dragged to could further raise integrity issues on the DP given that Mr Osinde is his close ally.