Kenya: Sirisia MP, John Koyi Waluke to sentence 10 years prison or pay Ksh.727 mln fine

Kenya's Sirisia Member of Parliament (MP), John Koyi Waluke has been sentenced to 10 years in prison or pay a fine of Ksh.727 million for defrauding the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Ksh.313 million, according to a news report by Citizen TV.

The MP was charged alongside Grace Sarapay Wakhungu, who was also handed a 10-year jail term or pay a fine of Ksh.707 million and Erad Supplies & General Contracts Limited (Erad); a company where the two are shareholders.

The magistrate observed that Waluke and Wakhungu took advantage of hungry Kenyans to mint money.

"The offenses are serious and the accused person took advantage out of a dire situation where Kenyans were faced with hunger and maize was required to save Kenyans from starvation. It, therefore, calls for a deterrence sentence," she said.

Waluke and Wakhungu were supposed to supply 40,000 metric tonnes of maize to National Cereals And Produce Board (NCPB) in 2004 but ended up pocketing Ksh.313 million without supplying even a single grain of maize.

The tender was however canceled after Erad Supplies, a company in which the late businessman, Jacob Juma was also a director, failed to prove it had sufficient funds to supply the maize.

The company later moved to court and sued NCPB claiming that by the time the tender was being canceled, it already had the maize procured from Ethiopia and that it was being stored by Chelsea Freight, a South African firm, in Djibouti.