By Our Nairobi Correspondent

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has ringed some changes within the finance department in what appears to be an attempt to divert attention from ongoing investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Governor has replaced Head of Treasury Martha Wambugu with Caroline Arabee who has been serving as one of the senior accountants at the county.

Martha has been redeployed back to her substantive role as a Director of Debt Management having previously served as a senior accountant as well.

This comes at a time the county is under investigations for allegedly paying Sh93 million to 13 companies that did not deliver goods or services to the county. The payments are said believed to have been orchestrated by Martha and senior accountant Daniel Nguru who happens to be his fiancée.

It is not surprising that Mr. Nguru whose academic credentials have been questioned by oversight committees has also been fired from his position.

The two are believed to have sanctioned millions of payments to companies associated with them.

Martha who has established himself as a key figure and point of reference for those who want their payments to sell through, is not new to controversies and has at one point been under arrest in Dubai over fictitious county dealings and suspected money laundering schemes.

Sakaja’s move is seen as a strategy to show effort and cover up the mess and other illegalities he has been accused of by the Controller of Budget who currently is withholding release of millions of shillings to City Hall due to unrealistic requisitions.  

Martha has been part of the revenue collection syndicate that also involves Kenya Revenue Officers. This is due to the fact that Nairobi County still uses a bank account opened by the Kenya Revenue Authority with KRA officers still as part of the signatories of the account.

KRA opened the accounts during Nairobi Metropolitan Services’ tenure as the revenue collector of the county and was never deactivated despite the transfer of deeds back to the county.

Martha together with the Chief Officer in charge of Finance, Asha Abdi were introduced as additional signatories to the same accounts where allegations of revenue diversion have previously emerged.

An MCA who is a member of the Public Accounts Committee has already promised to demand that Martha together with her fiancée Daniel Ngure appear before the committee even as the EACC and DCI conduct separate investigations.