Nairobi County officials, CBO executives in Sh185million fraud probe
The investigation is targeting four officials domiciled under Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s office and one in Finance Department alongside officials of the Kenya Relief Aid Access
Five senior Nairobi County officials and executives of a Machakos-based community organisation are under investigation over a suspicious Sh185 million payment that anti-graft and financial crime investigators suspect may be linked to fraud and money laundering.
The investigation is targeting four officials domiciled under Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s office and one in Finance Department alongside officials of the Kenya Relief Aid Access, a Community Based Organisation (CBO) registered in November 2023, which received Sh185 million from Nairobi County despite there being no verifiable records showing it provided any goods, works or services to the county government.
Investigators familiar with the probe intimated that the funds were deposited into the organisation’s account at a Co-operative Bank branch on June 12, 2025, before being rapidly transferred out, leaving a balance of only Sh2.5 million.
The movement of the funds has raised concerns among investigators, who suspect the entity may have been used as a conduit for laundering public money.
Officials are seeking to establish the circumstances under which the payment was authorised and the role played.
Contacted on phone, the organisation’s chairman, Morris Kyalo Kitili, declined to explain the nature of services allegedly rendered to Nairobi County.
“Is media required to investigate? We have seen many busy bodies. Tell those who informed you to tell you what services we provided,” Kitili said.
On the other hand, questions sent to Abdi through text message, WhatsApp and a hard-copy letter delivered to and acknowledged at her City Hall office on June 16, 2026, had not elicited a response by the time of going to press.
Investigators are also scrutinising the operations of Kenya Relief Aid Access, which lists Kitili, Samuel Ndothya and Catherine Kamene Kitengu as its chairman, secretary and treasurer respectively.
Records indicate the organisation has a membership of only 20 individuals and describes its objectives as promoting members’ welfare, eradicating poverty and improving living standards.
However, investigators say they have yet to establish any substantive humanitarian or community development activities undertaken by the organisation since its registration, despite it claiming to operate in Machakos County.
The latest probe adds to a string of concerns over financial management at City Hall, which has repeatedly come under scrutiny for alleged irregular payments involving garbage contractors, lawyers and suppliers, often supported by questionable documentation and multiple payments to the same entities.
Records reviewed by The Informer Media Group show that in 2022, a cumulative Sh2.026 billion was paid out in four separate tranches to the same companies.
Between May 4 and May 31, 2022, Sh683 million was disbursed to 42 companies through 51 transactions, while another Sh296 million was paid on April 25, 2022, to 13 companies in 16 transactions completed on a single day.
In addition, Sh754 million was paid to 48 companies through 55 transactions between January 26 and March 23 this year, while Sh294 million was disbursed to 14 companies in 19 transactions between July 1 and July 16, 2021.
Investigators are now seeking to determine whether the Sh185 million payment to Kenya Relief Aid Access forms part of a broader pattern of fraudulent expenditure and diversion of public funds within Nairobi County.
