First NYS Suspect Jailed, But Will He Be There For Long?

On Thursday, a court sentenced the first suspect in the 2015 National Youth Service (NYS) scandal where billions of shillings are believed to have been looted by individuals at the helm of the agency.

Selisio Karanja, a former secretary of a tender committee at NYS, was sentenced to four years in jail or an option of paying 4 million shillings as fine for his freedom.

Selisio was found guilty of inserting a name of Dama Services Ltd for procuring training materials, leading to the loss of more than 46 million shillings.

Giving him an option of paying 4 million shillings for his freedom, however, has elicited reaction among various people with some saying the corrupt will now be factoring in the cost of their freedom.

During the first NYS saga, stats show that more than two billion shillings might have been lost and the conviction of Mr. Karanja is just a drop in the ocean.

The war against corruption in Kenya seems to be going after the so-called small fish with the masterminds of mega disappearance of public funds left to hold public offices as the squander the loot.

The conviction of Mr. Karanja comes even as the trial of the suspects involved in the second round of the looting at the NYS, where more than 9 billion shillings is believed to have been stolen.

Stats show that Kenya loses at least one trillion shillings every financial year to corruption. The amount lost to corruption every year in Kenya is said to be more than a third of the national budget.

Kenya is currently struggling with a ballooning debt that is now about the 5-trillion-shilling mark, about 56 percent of the country’s GDP. The war against corruption has intensified but the blame has now shifted to the Judiciary for being ‘too lenient’ to suspects of corruption.