Nairobi — Immediate Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) Director General (DG) Ezra Chiloba has been accused of applying for and self-approving a mortgage loan without following the right procedure.
An audit that was conducted on the CA's staff mortgage found that the loan, which facilitated the acquisition of a property between him and Jacob Wakhungu, was not subjected to interrogation and approval by a higher authority.
Chiloba is also accused of acquiring a property house and land of seven acres, which is beyond the mandatory one-acre limit and thus in violation of the Civil Servants Housing Scheme requirement.
"Gross Misconduct - Being that the Director General is the Accounting Officer for the Authority, the conduct and integrity of the office holder when viewed against the provisions of Sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Leadership and Integrity Act is found to be in contravention of the same and in breach of the Code of Ethics which amounts to misconduct for which he may be subjected to disciplinary proceedings as per Section 45 of the Employment Act 2007," the document reads.
CA's Staff Mortgage Scheme was started in 1999 to allow staff to acquire decent houses and is administered internally by the Human Resources and Administration Department.
As of June 2023, a total of Sh662.4 million had been issued to staff.
Out of this, Sh72.2 million went to construction loans, Sh196.5 million to home purchase loans, Sh364.8 million to loan refinancing, and Sh28.9 million to the ex-staff outstanding loan balance.
For instance, the current Secretary to the Cabinet, Mercy Wanjau, has an outstanding mortgage of about Sh18.4 million for a property in Wood Green Terraces.
"In the process of carrying out procedural approvals and application of the Seal by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, it was discovered that there were questions on the veracity of the valuation reports for properties presented," it adds.
Some of the recommendations on the scheme include the suspension of mortgage refinancing for two months and the establishment of an internal audit team to handle audits, among others.
