Officials abruptly release “bank statement” after media report
Paul Muite, co-secretary of the hunger fund raising committee whose name appears in the newly surfaced bank statement indicating a portion of the funds have been wired to Kenya. Pic by H.Maina/Ajabu Media |
By Ajabu Africa, posted December 10, 2011-updated Dec 12, 6.35 pm
BOSTON, Mass.,_A dark cloud hovers over the where about of $1,000 raised by Kenyans for the ungry.
Over a month since Kenyan community in new England helped raise over Ksh.1.5 Million ($15,000) a scanned copy of money transfer requisition order and a Bank of a America statement has emerged on the internet.
The copy indicates that a wire transfer in the amount of only $14,000 was requested on Thursday, December 8 at 3.45 pm from a US based bank to the designated Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) account that is used by the Kenyans for Kenya initiative.
The newly surfaced documents whose authenticity is yet to be verified appeared on the internet barely a day after the saga was revealed by AjabuAfrica.com.
However, hawkeyed Kenyans who have perused the statement pointed out that there seems to be a discrepancy between the funds earmarked for remittal and the actual amount purported to have been remitted.
During the final committee meeting at St. Stephens Lowell, members were informed that the total amount raised was slightly over $16,000 after a new check from the Presbytery of Southern New England in conjunction with the Tumaini community church was added to the initial $15,000 raised at the actual funds drive.
After adjustments for expenses incurred for promoting and hosting the event, $15,000 was reported for remittance and distribution to hungry souls in the motherland.
The statement on the internet indicates that the account had only $14,348.70 as of November 8, 2011 out of which a wire transfer of $14,000 was requested. Click here to view the bank statement
It does not indicate the names of 2 other signatories who were required to be involved with any outgoing transactions on the account holding public funds including the treasurer, Peter Mwaniki who has complained openly of being sidelined from the ability to view the account activity.
Unfortunately, the fund raising committee did not have anyone assigned to audit it's books of accounts despite easy access to a huge pool of highly skilled certified public accountants in the Kenyan community in Boston who work for top rated world companies.
In contrast, the Kenyans for Kenya initiative that inspired the funds drive in Boston had it's books of accounts and distribution activities audited by Deloitte & Touche and other top rated Kenyan accounting firms, and made freely available online. (Download audit report here)
The original fund raising organizers, the New England Kenyan Association (NEKA) had suggested closing the account as soon as the funds drive mission was over.
The surprising online statement surfaced on a website whose operator, Sam Mwaura, an official of Kenya Christians Fellowship in America (KCFA) -Boston chapter.
Mwaura was among other close allies who ganged to inject religious and political dimensions as to the ceremonial manner in which the money should be handed over.
The tussle led to the six weeks delay in remittance, a duration which people in Kenya continued suffering as reported in sections of Kenyan media.(Read: Shock as hunger, diseases claim 40 in Turkana)
This was against the wishes of the original funds drive organizers representing the civil society who wanted speedy delivery.
More shocking, the newly surfaced statement has neither been published on the official funds drive website: DKenyans4HKenyans.org, nor sent to AjabuAfrica.com which was the main Kenyan Diaspora networking website used to advertise and mobilize donors for the charitable cause.
A request for the statement of accounts to the organizers by AjabuAfrica.com on November 24, 2011 has never been responded to.
After the story broke, many Kenyans who had donated to the cause called AjabuAfrica.com news room while others took to the blogs voicing shock and alarm.
“People who donated this money thought their money was sent a long time ago and hoped it was helping save lives” said one irate Kenyan who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter.
“It is a shock that the money is still lying in a US Bank when people are dying back home,” said another concerned Kenya in a blog posting.
Many had hoped that the hunger funds drive would inject lost confidence in handling public funds in the community which has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for several church building projects and other community initiatives, leaving no traces to follow and never to be recovered.
“When will the Kenyan Diaspora leaders learn to respect laid procedures of transparency and accountability?” asked Charles Ngeene, organizing secretary for New England Kenyan Association.
“We were hoping to come together as one community to help the starving people with a measure of urgency and a degree of transparency that has never been seen before in this community. I am very disappointed by this development,” he added.
The revelation has also triggered an email campaign against Ajabuafrica.com by some of the committee members.
Among those who reacted was Rev. Samuel Kimohu, a member of the funds drive committee and the current treasurer of the Kenyan American Association (KAPA).
Rev. Kimohu
released an email distribution to presumably other members of the KAPA and other undisclosed recipients accusing AjabuAfrica.com of publishing a story meant to kill what he termed as “newly invented unity” in the Kenyan community.(Read: full email from Rev. Kimohu that reached AjabuAfrica)
The members of the funds drive committee will be among those leading in the 48th Jamhuri day celebrations in Lowell and many Kenyans are hoping that the officials will address the burning issue.
The event will be attended by the Kenyan Ambassador to the US, H.E. Elkanah Odembo and Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman, Ahmed Isaack Hassan.
Members of the Kenyan community in the Diaspora have increasingly started taking their leaders visiting from Kenya to task over issues of accountability and transparency during question and answer sessions at such meetings.
It remains to be seen if they would start holding their leaders right here in the Diaspora to the same treatment in light of the developing hunger funds fiasco.
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Below: Kenyans asking tough questions about accountability during the recent Martha Karua visit to Boston
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