Nairobi — The National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation's board of directors has been dissolved as a series of corruption allegations is investigated.

The dissolution was announced on Friday by Water and Irrigation minister Charity Ngilu, who also sent the managing director, Mr Meshack Saboke, and nine senior managers on compulsory leave to pave the way for the investigations.

She announced the appointment of Ms Petronilla Ogut, the chief technical services manager at Lake Victoria South Water Services Board, to take over from Mr Saboke in an acting capacity.

A new board of directors will be appointed in due course, the minister announced.

Mrs Ngilu's action comes after the release of damning reports, one by the Efficiency Monitoring Unit (Emu) in the Office of the Prime Minister and the other by the Controller and Auditor-General.

"When I took over the Ministry of Water and Irrigation in April 2008, I found a huge pending bill at the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation, which was crippling the institution and required investigations to be carried out to ascertain its authenticity," she told reporters when she announced the changes.

The report by the Controller and Auditor-General for the year ending June 30, 2007, Mrs Ngilu said, raised serious queries on the accumulation of debts by the institution.

Public outcry

Besides, a public outcry over the performance of the corporation had necessitated the action she took on Friday.

The Emu had report also revealed irregularities in financial transactions and made some recommendations on the way forward.

"What is clear is that the management of the corporation has so far not offered a satisfactory explanation for the irregularities," said Mrs Ngilu.

NWCPC is believed to have lost Sh30 million through the illegal transactions although the figure might be bigger as the management could not account for some other money.