Fear, intimidation and coercion have been used to perpetuate corruption at the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA).
According to a letter written by a section of NITA employees to the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Labour Ukur Yattani, the Federation of Kenya Employer (FKE) and Central Organization of Trade Union (COTU) representation, Director General (DG), Director, Human Resource & Administration (DHRA), Manager Legal Affairs (MLA) & Manager Internal Audit (MIA) are a mere alignment of corrupt and institutional capture delinquent individuals.
The chairman who is relatively new has been unable to provide direction to the organisation, due to the tyranny of numbers of board members who hae been intimidating him.
“The combined tyranny of numbers of FKE & COTU representation at the NITB is making it difficult for him to direct and control the Authority and therefore he is unable to rally the NITB to use reason and objectivity as a guide to discussion and resolution of the Board’s agenda,” reads the letter in part.
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Members of NITB extorted money from Levy Inspectors to protect them from ‘imagined hypothetical’ threats for ‘unspecified action’. The letter states that the Director General parted with colossal sum of money in bribe to NITB members and as a consequence, they halted a forensic audit exercise which was to be undertaken in late 2015.
The letter seen by Kahawa Tungu also implicates the director general who it says acts to please the board, rather than doing the right.
“He is indecisive, paradoxical and a coward who has ceded his administrative responsibilities of the Authority to a few ‘powerful individuals’ of the NITB and opportunists in the Management ranks,” adds the letter.
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Three senior managers, Mr Julius Olayo, Irene Ogamba and Teresa Lagat are said to have endeared themselves to the NITB to belief that they are the chosen ones.
The letter further reveals that Ernest Nadome and Jacqueline Mugo are complicit in the
wider conspiracy that fabricated evidence which occasioned the summary dismissal of innocent employees to create room for their relatives and cronies. In collaboration with rogue lawyers, the senior officers are deeply engaged in obstructing the administration of justice to the dismissed employees.
A the major procurement tenders at NITA are a subject to tendering fraud and manipulation such as Group Medical Insurance from FY 2014/2015 to
Date. Most of the awards are made at the directive of the director general to firms that
allegedly do not comply with public procurement laws to serve his personal interests.
The director General has also been involved in extortion of money from Centre Managers in NITA AthiRiver (Ksh500,000), NITA Kisumu (Ksh200,000) and NITA Mombasa (Ksh300,000) guised as ‘Management Fees’.
This is what gave rise to the transfer of Patrick Masinde and the recent forced retirement of Elkana Kirundi for failing to comply. It is part of the silent reasons which occasioned the choreographed and wrongful dismissal of Mr Gabriel Obasie (Ag, Finance Manager) who had raised the matter with the director general following complaints from Centre Accountants.
In 2016, Mr Ernest Nadome is alleged to have used used coercion, threats and intimidation to extort Ksh330,000 from 19 employees who remain isolated, discriminate,
and on constant surveillance while performing tasks forced upon them.
Any employee who raises questions about the authority is either fired or given a warning letter, as in the case of finance department where every employee in the department has been served with erratic warning letter.
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Mr Gabriel Obasie (Ag Manager Finance) and Rosemary Nabwire (Clerical Officer) were dismissed, who were star witnesses for the Authority in the court case involving a Ksh12 fraud by Alfred Jamal (Mr Olayo’s nephew) yet the two were exonerated from blame by the Police.
Mr Olayo was engaged in acts of altering/changing/modifying the Authority’s HR Manual
without approval of the NITB for the purpose of deceiving and more specifically defeat the course of justice by employees contesting the ever common unjustified summary dismissals.
He has also, according to the letter, adamantly refused to forward personal files to State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC) in respect employees pursuing their rights.
“Employees see the refusal as a deliberate effort to interfere and frustrate the course of justice by employees contesting wrongful dismissal,” adds the letter.
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The director general and the chair of the NITB were invited to SCAC but intentionally disregarded to take notice of or acknowledge the invitation and the excuse given is that they were both in the skies on foreign trips.
Next in this series we shall be telling you how some employees have been kept at bay in the name of extended leaves, but receiving salaries at the same time.
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