Kenya: DCI Accused of Dragging Feet in Probing Theft of Sh8 Million State Vehicle

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has been accused of failing to recover an Sh8.36 million government-owned sport utility vehicle allegedly stolen in August 2019.

The silver metallic Toyota Fortuner (GKB 193V) belonging to the State Department for University Education, was stolen in an alleged carjacking incident in Nairobi's Buruburu estate, just days after it was bought.

The vehicle had been assigned to the ACE II project in Naivasha under the Director of University Education.

The loss was flagged by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu in her audit of the accounts of the State Department for University Education for the 2018/19 financial year.

Appearing before the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, which is considering the audit report, University Education Principal Secretary Simon Nabukwesi blamed the failure to recover the vehicle on the slow pace of investigations by DCI officers.

"The investigating officers have taken too long to conclude the matter," Mr Nabukwesi told PAC, a watchdog committee of the House chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi.

Mr Nabukwesi also told the committee that the man who was driving the vehicle when it was stolen at 8pm on August 22, 2019, Vincent Abwao Mukobe, has since been dismissed from government employment.

But Mr Wandayi and committee member Wilberforce Oundo (Funyula), faulting the ministry for targeting the driver, wondered how a GK vehicle would just disappear into thin air even with the elaborate investigative machinery at the government's disposal.

"The only issue we have is that you have chosen to go for the small fish and leave out the big fish. A driver will hardly drive away outside the official hours. Where was he going? Who authorised him?" Mr Wandayi posed.

Lawmakers were told that Mr Mukobe was driving the vehicle after 5pm, beyond official working hours, without authority, "which is contrary to the set rules and regulations governing GK vehicles".

The committee was also told that government vehicles do not carry insurance stickers and are not fitted with tracking gadgets.

Failure to recover the vehicle means that taxpayers will have to foot the cost of the loss.

Dr Oundo claimed the disappearance of the vehicle was shrouded in secrecy.

"It looks funny that a government vehicle with a GK registration number plate can just disappear like that! So what happens to the public funds spent to acquire the vehicle?" he said.

A ministry human resources management panel meeting on December 18, 2019 and chaired by the University Education PS at the time, Prof Collette Suda, recommended the summary dismissal of Mr Mukobe.

The grounds for his sacking included driving the vehicle without authority, which the ministry said violated rules on operating government vehicles.

He is also accused of giving police the wrong registration number for the missing vehicle - GKB 173V instead of GKB 193V.

Documents before the committee show that at the time of the alleged carjacking in Buruburu, Mr Mukobe claimed he was taking the vehicle to the Buruburu Police Station for parking.

The ministry established that he lived in Jerusalem Estate in Nairobi and wondered why he planned to park the vehicle in Buruburu when there are two other police stations in Jerusalem - the Jogoo Road and Makadara stations.

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When questioned, Mr Mukobe said he preferred parking at Buruburu station because it was not crowded, was vast and organised and that public transport from the station to his home was cheaper.

Mr Mukobe later clarified that he lived in Jericho and not Jerusalem as claimed.

Explaining why he gave police the wrong vehicle registration number, he said he had panicked because of the alleged carjacking incident.

In an August 26, 2019 letter, the Director of University Education indicates that on the day the vehicle was stolen, Mr Mukobe and a Mr Atambo, the office administrator, had used the vehicle last at 4pm.

The driver dropped off Mr Tambo at Jogoo House "B" a few minutes after 5pm, the letter says, and he expected the driver to park the vehicle at the building as he didn't have any other assignment that day.