Anti-graft agencies on alert as notorious Mandera cartel invades Kilifi

Anti-graft agencies in the country have their tabs kept on two brothers from Mandera County who have heavily been linked to past graft cases in Mandera and are believed to be part of a cartel lining up to invade Kilifi County.

The runaway cartel is reportedly led by Mr Alinoor Mohamed Ali who served as the Chief Officer Finance in Mandera County.

It is alleged that Mr Alinoor is using proxy companies, among them a company identified as Green, to manipulate procurement officers in various counties.

Apparently the company in question ‘Green’ was awarded a tender to construct Kilifi county assembly office block, but they abandoned the site, the same happened in Kwale county and Mandera too.

Mr Alinoor together with officers who served in the finance department have been on the EAC and DPP radar for a while over alleged gross financial malpractices in Mandera.

The 2019 auditor report on Mandera indicts Mr Noor and other officers for irregular procurement of vehicles where Sh 17,325,000 was spent.The county procured a vehicle with an engine capacity of 4500 cc contravening section 137(1) of the Public Finance Management Regulations,2015 which requires that official vehicles purchased for use by the governor shall not exceed 2600cc for the saloon cars and 3000cc for 4 by 4 utility vehicles.

The report further stated that full payment of Ksh,17,325,000 was made on May,2019 but audit verification on December 4,2019 revealed that the vehicle had not been delivered.

The auditor also found out that the management procured six ambulances worth Ksh 63,070,000 using government negotiated supplies branch contract.However,although the vehicles were supplied and delivered,the management did not avail,for audit review,tender documents,tender evaluation,inspection and acceptance report contrary to section 135(2) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act,2015.

The county’s finance and procurement department was also put on the spot for misappropriating drought mitigation funds. The report revealed that Ksh 200,000,000 had been budgeted for relief food but the county spent Ksh 251,424,394 resulting to an over expenditure of Ksh 51,424,394.

As the county’s Chief Officer Finance,Mr Alinorr was expected to raise a red flag on the fictitious payments but did not.

In the same county, a review of the procurement process for construction of roads revealed that the management incurred Ksh.312,600,170 but the tender did not reflect details of the contacts such as tender numbers,description of the projects to be procured and eligibility requirements.

At one point, a resident of Mandera moved to the Anti-Corruption Court seeking orders to compel the DPP to probe Governor Ali Roba and top finance officers over alleged misuse of funds.

Simba Hasheem asked the court to admit a charge sheet that had been drawn against the Governor, Ibrahim Hassan, Alinoor Mohamed Ali and Okash Abdulahi Adan over alleged misuse of Sh56 million but no action has been taken so far.

The focus has now shifted to Kilifi where Mr   Alinoor is said to have used dubious means to secure  his brother Abubakar Mohamed Ali a top job where he is now the chief officer Housing and urban Development.  

Elected leaders in the county are said to have warned Governor Mung’aro against working with the notorious cartel.

Mr Alinoor is said to be a fearless tenderpreneur   who uses all means available to manipulate tenders in various counties.

This comes at a time when reports indicate that the EACC is secretly tracking corrupt cartels working jointly to fleece all the 44 counties.

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