Kericho Governor Erick Mutai is currently facing Members of the County Assembly following a second impeachment motion.
Dr Mutai started his defence on Friday at the assembly chambers on accusations over alleged financial impropriety relating to the payment of Sh 85 million to 46 companies for work allegedly not done, services and goods not delivered.
The Governor arrived at the assembly shortly before 10am with lawyers led by Katwa Kigen who also represented him in November 2 and 14, 2024 at the Assembly and Senate respectively in a similar process that aborted.
Mr Kiprotich Rogony, the Sigowet Member of County Assembly, has used the recommendations by an ad hoc committee chaired by Soliat MCA Albert Kipkoech adopted by the house on the alleged procurement and financial scam, to table the impeachment motion.
The hearing was delayed for 45 minutes due what was said to be an Information Communication Technology hitch, as it was set to be tabled at 10am but was pushed to 10:43am with Mr Rogony taking the floor at 10:48am.
Whereas the Governor was previously impeached by 31 MCAs, 16 of them voted to have him remain in office in what later became a question of statistics when the matter was addressed at the Senate with claims the threshold should have been for the motion mover to have 32 MCAs backing the removal.
Alleged fictitious payments
The MCAs relied on section 30 of the County Governments Act which says the ultimate responsibility lies with the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) and Chief Officer (CO) of a department(s) and the appointing authority.
Governor Mutai has blamed his Deputy Fred Kirui and Speaker of the County Assembly Patrick Mutai of political witch hunt as they are both eyeing the Governor’s seat in 2027.
Mr Kirui first wrote to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) requesting for investigations into the alleged fictitious payments.
He then wrote to the County Executive of Finance and Economic Planning on July 10, 2025 seeking to be provided with copies of the tender advertisement, award letters, delivery notes, inspection certificates, and payment vouchers.
The County Assembly recommended a forensic audit be conducted by the Office of the Auditor General on all the payments made to the 46 companies listed in the investigations and subsequent findings be shared with all stakeholders.
The assembly recommended recovery of public funds lost for goods and services that were not supplied, from suppliers concerned and accounting officers be held accountable.
The departments implicated in the transactions are – Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative management, Health Services, Water, Energy, Environment, Forestry and Natural Resources, Finance and Economic Planning, Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Settlement, Public Works, Roads and Transport.
Specifically, the assembly recommended the head of county treasury held accountable for failure to advise the government in the management of public finances which has contravened section 104 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
The County Public Service Board (CPSB) has been directed to institute proceedings against Chief Officers (COs) in six key departments involved in the alleged scam.
The ad hoc committee report noted that there were instances when payments were made in advance before delivery of goods and services by departments without indication of exceptional provision in the contract or any written agreement contrary to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPADA) Act, 2015.
A breakdown of the Sh85,704,522.90 paid as contained in the assembly report shows that the amount paid to 41 firms whose documentations were provided for scrutiny by the adhoc committee was Sh80, 531,807.30.
However, documentation for a further payment of Sh5,172,715.60 involving five companies was not provided to the assembly committee for verification during the investigations.
Some of the departments procured goods and services way above their budget lines without prerequisite approvals.
An example is the department of Water, Energy, Environment, Forestry and Natural Resources that procured office furniture worth Sh2,784,000 which was Sh1,784,000 above the approved budget.
The department also procured cleaning and sanitary items of Sh2,874,000 against an existing budget of Sh440,000 in what resulted in the overshooting of approved budget by Sh2,407,000.
The department of Finance and Economic Planning contracted three companies to provide a public address system, tents, chairs and refreshments during the public participation in the budget making process in 30 civic wards at a cost of Sh7,723,600.
Kericho County Governor Erick Mutai before the Senate Nairobi on October 14, 2024 during the hearing of his impeachment.
Photo credit: Pool
It also contracted three companies to supply branded items and printed materials at a cost of Sh7,963,000.
This was done despite the fact there was no newspaper advert or any other documentation attached to the payment vouchers showing the dates and venues of all the 30 wards where the public participation was alleged to be undertaken.
Tender opening minutes, procurement professional opinion, inspection and acceptance committee reports and evidence of appointment of tender committees were not attached to the payment vouchers.
The department paid out Sh6,899,424 from retention account to 18 companies as retention fees out of which Mengro Products Limited received seven payments dating back 2018/2019 fiscal year – amounting to Sh1.4 million.
Ms Betsy Chebet and Dr Michael Bett, the Chief Officer for Cooperatives revealed to the committee on July 28, 2025 that the department of Livestock Cooperatives Management division contracted firms to supply raw materials for making animal feeds worth Sh14,980,640 to five cooperative societies in the county.
Each of the benefiting cooperative societies were to receive 27,000 kilograms of assorted raw materials – 6,000kg of soya beans, 7,000kg of maize germ, sunflower seed cake and cotton seed respectively.
Instead of using the open tender method, the department split the procurement into five in order to enable them to use requests for quotations instead of using open tender which is more transparent and competitive.
At the time, the payments to the respective companies were made, no supplies had been made, delivery of the goods had procured had not been done.
“However, after the issue (alleged scandal) was raised, a partial delivery of the raw materials was delivered to various farmers’ cooperative societies” the committee noted in the report before the house.
It was noted that while Joylee Group Limited was paid Sh2.4 million for supply of stationery, the delivery note tabled by Ms Chebet did not match the narration in the payment voucher.
Derju company, Aksak Company, Lewry Enterprises, Pkendess Company Limited and Mabsa General Supplies Limited were contracted by the Cooperatives department to supply six cooperative societies with raw materials for processing animal feeds – maize germ, wheat bran, soya beans, sunflower and cotton cakes.
However, documentations for supply of animal feed mixers to Cherobu Cooperative society were not provided by the department for scrutiny by the legislators investigating the matter.
Inconsistencies in the request and acknowledgements letters were noted from the cooperative societies.
“Electronic Tax Invoice Management System (ETIMS) invoices were not attached to the payment vouchers hence contravening the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) guidelines that requires all business persons claiming any business expense as at 1st January 2024 to submit the ETIMS” the report read.
Leaders of the various cooperative societies were directed to follow up the recovery of raw materials within a period of 28 days and that ETIMS for the companies mentioned be provided to the committee on Agriculture within 15 days.
Mr Richard Kiplangat Mitei, the Chief Officer for Energy, Environment, Forestry and Natural Resources confirmed that Chebema Construction and Supplies Limited supplied cleaning and sanitary items at a cost of Sh2.847 million.
But as per the documents presented for scrutiny, Chebema Construction and Supplies Limited had an LSO printed before the award of tender, which is an irregularity, with a position taken by the committee that the price of the sanitary items were exaggerated.
Debral Ventures Limited was contracted to maintain 15 residential houses in Kipkelion West sub county at a cost of Sh2.9 million, but payments were done without the inspection and acceptance committee report hence deemed no inspection for the services was done.
The payment was done in March 2025 as per the documents tabled, but on site visit by the committee on July 30, 2025, the works were incomplete though a completion certificate had been issued for the full amount to be paid on February 22, 2025.
“Painting works and the removal of asbestos and replacement with a proper roof was yet to be done…” the report reads.
It was noted as per the documents tabled by the department that the award letter was issued to the contractor on 5th November 2024 before the tender opening date of November 14th, 2024.
Ms Jackline Langat, the Chief Officer for Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Settlement revealed that Denbi Holdings Limited was contracted to offer catering services at a cost of Sh2.985 million, Cranes Bee Group Limited supplied furniture at a cost of Sh2.976 million while Benlok Ventures Limited refurbished an office at a cost of Sh2.485 million.
On scrutiny of the documents tabled, the committee found that there were discrepancies in the dates and Local Supply Orders (LSOS) issued to Benlok Ventures Holdings Limited. It also emerged that the LSOs were generated after the award of the contract.
It also emerged that Denbi Holdings Limited provided catering services for at a contract sum of Sh2,985,000 for public participation in Chelimo with a requisition for five days, but the event was done in a day, with the MCAs raising a red flag on the expenditure.
Mr Anderson Terer, the Chief Officer Public Works, Roads and Transport stated when he appeared before the committee on July, 31, 2025 that the companies that had done business with the department and paid under retention fees were – Prospera Ventures, Mengro Products Limited, Bitworld Holdings Limited, Green Eighty Limited, Breray Limited, Spikes Investments and Cherire Holdings.
Mengro Products Limited was paid a total of Sh1,779,044 (broken into Sh287,523, Sh395,020, Sh496,860, Sh372,287, Sh312,079 and Sh270,793) as per the documents filed.
Enreal Supplies Limited which was contracted to maintain motor vehicles at a sum of Sh2,975,500 was paid but no verification inspection reports were attached as evidence of the contract, with noted discrepancies in figures indicated in the LSO, payment vouchers and the invoices, which could not be explained by the Chief Officer, thereby bringing the transaction into question.
