To understand why the social contract is in tatters today, we must look at the historical timeline of economic plunder that brought us here. Corruption is not a series of isolated mistakes; it is a structural system designed to enrich the few at the expense of the many.
When we look back at the major corruption scandals under the previous administration, the numbers are not just statistics—they represent stolen healthcare, empty schools, abandoned infrastructure, and generational debt that every young Kenyan is paying for today.
Here is the receipt of major scandals that defined the landscape of institutional impunity:
1. The NYS Scandal I (2015 Fraud) | ~KSh 1.9 Billion Lost
- The Scheme: Through inflated tenders, fictitious suppliers, and deliberate manipulation of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), KSh 1.9 billion was systematically siphoned out.
- The Reality: While funds were reportedly delivered in gunny bags to well-connected individuals, basic youth empowerment and community development projects across the country were completely paralyzed.
2. The Eurobond Mystery (2014) | ~KSh 215 Billion Unaccounted For
- The Scheme: Kenya raised KSh 250 billion through its first sovereign bond. However, an audit by the Auditor General revealed that a staggering KSh 215 billion could not be traced to any specific project, ministry, or expenditure record.
- The Reality: The money vanished into thin air, leaving Kenyans with massive interest payments on a multi-billion shilling loan that never served them.
3. Afya House “Mafia House” Scandal (2016) | ~KSh 5.3 Billion Lost
- The Scheme: Funds meant for public healthcare were diverted through fake companies using double payments and IFMIS manipulation. Contracts were awarded to firms with zero operating history, pocketing hundreds of millions.
- The Reality: Stolen healthcare funds directly translated to empty dispensaries, missing medicine, and a broken public health system that left millions of ordinary citizens stranded.
4. Laptop Tender Scandal (2013) | ~KSh 24.6 Billion Lost
- The Scheme: A flagship campaign promise to deliver laptops to every Standard 1 child collapsed under a cloud of irregular procurement, leading to a canceled unfair award to Olive Telecommunications Pvt Ltd.
- The Reality: Billions were sunk into a botched digital learning rollout, leaving an entire generation of public school students without the digital tools they were promised.
5. SGR Cost Controversy (2014–2017) | ~KSh 380 Billion Overpricing
- The Scheme: The Standard Gauge Railway contract was awarded illegally without an open tender to China Road & Bridge Corporation at a staggering $6.2 million per kilometer—nearly double the World Bank’s global estimate.
- The Reality: The terms were hidden behind confidentiality clauses for years, saddling the nation with bloated external debt for an overpriced infrastructure project.
6. Galana-Kulalu Failed Irrigation Scheme (2013–2017) | ~KSh 5.9 Billion Lost
- The Scheme: A mega-project promised to irrigate 1 million acres and ensure national food security produced a dismal 22,000 bags of maize worth just KSh 35 million. Land lease costs were inflated 10 times over before the contractor downed tools.
- The Reality: Billions spent on food security vanished, forcing the country to consistently call for international famine aid while local agricultural potential was sabotaged.
The Lesson: The currency of the state has long been impunity. The fight for financial transparency and structural reform isn’t a new trend—it is an absolute necessity to prevent the complete auction of our future.