When Kenya was freshly basking in the new dawn of independence, in her toddler years, the Kenya Government saw the need to roll out an ultra-modern conference facility to attract meetings regionally and internationally, hence the birth of Kenyatta International Conference Centre. For decades the facility that Prides itself in MICE tourism enjoyed a boom and public approval.
But now a man at the helm of the leadership of the KICC, the CEO Mr. James Mwaura, is being accused of allegedly hitting the last nail on the coffin of KICC which has been struggling to remain afloat – attracting President Ruto’s attention to have it sold off. However, it survived through the skin of its teeth.
According to information from impeccable sources, the CEO who is barely six months into his tenure is allegedly dismembering the KICC limb by limb and rendering it irrecoverable from the mess he is accused of plunging it into. One of his greatest undoings is the alleged unprofessionalism with which he hands the tendering process, to his cronies and prompt payment because of favoritism, whilst other suppliers’ agony remains unbearable.
A case in point is that in August, he allegedly awarded Metropolitan Engineers Ltd a contract to refurbish the KICC and the cost of the tender was Ksh 14M which was paid almost immediately while some contractors haven’t been paid since 2022. Mr. Mwaura is alleged to have hastily given out the tender to refurbish, partition and soundproof the 4th floor of KICC and immediately paid them 4.8M.
Another worst was the security enhancement Tender at 14M shillings which was a direct procurement, which he is alleged to have blatantly refused to inform the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority as required by the law. Mr. Mwaura is also accused of awarding tenders to his proxies like Citiard to sound proof 5th floor and paid them 4.1M shillings immediately.
Mr. Mwaura, alongside the Board Chairman Irungu Nyakera who received the soft landing after being demoted from KEMSA due to incompetence and corruption, is keen to shovel up the last heap of the soil on KICC’s ‘grave’
Kenyans have now called upon the investigative agencies to swing into action and salvage the sinking ship and ensure accountability, Transparency, and Integrity are observed as expected of public servants as enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya which bides every Kenyan.
