A fresh corruption storm has erupted at Matili Technical Training Institute after it emerged that auctioneers, working in collusion with a construction company and rogue public officials, orchestrated the fraudulent sale of school property over a fake debt.
Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) are probing the unlawful disposal of assets belonging to the institution, in what appears to be a well-planned cover-up for embezzlement and fraud.
Those at the centre of the scandal include auctioneers Brown Tsuma Mukanda and Kennedy Kweyu Shikuku, proprietors of Eshikhoni Auctioneers, who sold a Matili driving school vehicle valued at Kshs 5.4 million for a mere Kshs 1.2 million. Also implicated is Samson Itonde, owner of Dominion Auctioneers, who is currently helping Ramagon Construction Company Ltd seize more institutional property based on what investigators now confirm is a non-existent debt.
These individuals were summoned by the EACC and have since recorded statements. Investigators are pursuing leads on corruption, economic crimes, and fraudulent acquisition of public assets.
The crackdown follows the Thursday arrest of three directors of Ramagon Construction Company Ltd — Abdi Barre Abdi, Hassan Bare Abdi, and Nagenye Mohamud Dahir — over similar allegations.
EACC is probing how these directors — in collusion with insiders — manipulated a public tender to siphon off millions. The tender, No. MTTI/MOHEST/2/2010-2011, was originally valued at Kshs 29.3 million. It was irregularly inflated to Kshs 58.9 million during the construction of twin workshops at the institute in the 2010/2011 financial year.
That fraudulent variation resulted in an overpayment of Kshs 22 million for work never done.
But the fraud didn’t end there. Ramagon Construction is accused of falsely claiming another Kshs 9 million from the institution. To recover this fake debt, they engaged Eshikhoni and Dominion Auctioneers to raid the school and auction public property — including vehicles — in broad daylight.
The EACC has since released the three directors on bond. They are required to report back on May 29, 2025, for further interrogation.
The probe is ongoing.
Questions now loom over who within the institution authorized or facilitated the forged claims, inflated contracts, and auction orders.
Is this just the tip of the iceberg?
Who else pocketed public money while pretending to serve students?
And will the government recover what was looted from Matili Technical Training Institute?
This scandal is far from over.
