Wizileaks - County Edition Uasin Gishu – The Cost of Systemic Graft
From the Finland scholarship saga that left parents in debt, to land cartels grabbing hospitals and schools, and fraud at the Chebororwa Training Centre, Uasin Gishu’s scandals mirror the systemic failures flagged in audit reports. Year after year, auditors expose stalled projects, idle donor funds, unsupported bursaries, and long-outstanding imprests. Together, they reveal a county where corruption is not an exception but the system itself — draining billions meant to serve the public.
Where it Hurts
Education Sector Scandals
Example — Uasin Gishu Finland Scholarship Scam:
Marketed as a county-sponsored scholarship initiative, parents were pressured to pay over KSh 1 million per student into a county-managed trust fund. Many students never traveled; others faced unexpected fees. Funds were diverted to pay for those already abroad, triggering a financial crisis.
- Use of county branding: The programme mimicked an official initiative, stifling scrutiny.
- Lack of financial oversight: Millions were collected and shifted without accountability.
- Poor university vetting: Some added unexpected costs, revealing weak contracts.
- Poor communication: Families were uninformed about delays or rejections.
- Diversion of funds: KSh 66M from future students was used for those already abroad.
- Delayed justice: Over 200 witnesses await trial; few refunds have been issued.
Land grabbing and property fraud
Example: Uasin Gishu Land Grabbing Scandal
Public land intended for hospitals, courts, and emergency services was grabbed using forged titles. EACC recovered KSh 3.2B worth of land, with 97 parcels valued at KSh 7.4B still under investigation.
- Weak documentation: Missing records enabled overlapping land claims.
- Fraudulent titles: Registry officials colluded to issue fake deeds.
- Ignored court orders: Developers continued construction despite injunctions.
- Political intimidation: Whistleblowers faced harassment and arrest.
- Judicial delays: Legal cases remain unresolved for years.
- Public powerlessness: Citizens lacked the support to challenge grabbers.
Abuse of Office and Financial Mismanagement
Example: Chebororwa Agricultural Training Centre Misappropriation
The principal and his wife were convicted for misappropriating KSh 11.4M meant for public training. Institutional mismanagement and a county leadership dispute enabled the fraud.
- Weak oversight: Fund disbursements were poorly supervised.
- Governance disputes: Unresolved leadership between counties left gaps.
- No transparency: Financial reports were absent, concealing theft.
- Delayed investigations: Suspects had time to destroy evidence and avoid justice.
- Poor auditing: Internal capacity to monitor fraud was lacking.
Since Devolution, Uasin Gishu has had two governors. From ghost projects to the Finland scholarship saga, corruption in the county has taken on new, devastating forms. The governors may not appear in every court file — but the systems thrived under their watch, and the responsibility rests with them.
The Buck Stops Here — But the Rot Runs Deeper
Since devolution,Uasin Gishu has had three governors, each inheriting a county riddled with financial malpractice, rigged tenders, land grabs, and petty bribery. While it’s tempting to tie specific scandals to individual administrations, our investigations suggest that the truth is far deeper and more troubling. What emerges from the record is not a series of isolated leadership failures, but a well-entrenched system of corruption that has outlived each regime. The real indictment lies in how little successive governors have done to confront or dismantle these networks.
Audit Reports reveal a pattern of systemic cracks
…a pervasive environment where financial oversight is compromised, creating ample opportunities for misuse of public funds. The lack of transparency, accountability, and compliance with financial regulations evident in Uasin Gishu’s reports underscores a governance system highly vulnerable to corruption.
KSh 187M
Lost on stalled milk cooling plants — 13 never built and 18 left unfinished years later. Auditors found no value for money
Weak Internal Controls and Governance:
Auditors found persistent weaknesses in Uasin Gishu’s financial controls, risk management, and oversight systems. Reviews noted payments processed outside IFMIS, long-outstanding imprests, and repeated underutilization of conditional grants and fuel levy funds. Ignored audit recommendations and weak enforcement created gaps that allowed fiscal indiscipline and mismanagement to continue unchecked.
Unsupported and Irregular Expenditures:
Auditors flagged persistent weaknesses in Uasin Gishu’s expenditure management, with large bursary and scholarship payments across several years made without beneficiary records. Unsupported educational benefits, long-outstanding imprests, and contract payments lacking completion certificates — such as at the fish hatchery and ECDE projects — were also noted. These irregularities reflect systemic lapses in oversight, exposing public funds to misuse and loss of value.
Unresolved Audit Issues and Pending Bills:
Auditors flagged persistent gaps in Uasin Gishu’s controls, with bursary and scholarship payments made without beneficiary records — KSh 74.4m in 2020/21, KSh 103.5m in 2021/22, and KSh 131.7m in 2023/24. They also noted KSh 3.4m in unsupported educational benefits (2019/20) and long-outstanding imprests held in breach of PFMR rules. Payments for projects like ECDE classrooms and the University of Eldoret hatchery were made without completion certificates.
Corruption Database
The total figure lost is an estimate drawn from Auditor General reports for Uasin Gishu County between 2016–2024. It was calculated by summing entries where the Auditor’s rationale explicitly showed public money was lost or misused — for example, cases of payments for stalled or incomplete projects, undelivered goods and services, or direct embezzlement.
Entries where the Auditor highlighted risks, delays, or gaps in documentation without confirming a loss were excluded. This ensures the figure reflects only the amounts most clearly identified as compromised.
Review the full list of cases in our database, drawn from Auditor General reports, EACC investigations, and credible media reports, for a complete picture of corruption and financial mismanagement in Uasin Gishu County.