Wamatangi links ERP case to a plot to paralyze the county

Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi has linked a move by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to seek orders to block the County from funding the development of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to an "intentional plot" to paralyse his administration's operation.

The Governor stated that while EACC has a mandate to investigate government transactions, he believes the decision to halt his administration's funding for the full development of the system reveals a negative intention against the success of his administration, as the ERP is the heart of all county operations. 

ERP, which is being implemented in modules, he said, is a holistic system that has automated all county services, including revenue management and reporting, unified trading licenses, market cess, parking, slaughterhouse charges, and liquor licenses.

The system also features a health services module through the Hospital Information Management System (HMIS), human resources management, fleet management, land management, a development and building approval module, land surveying, and geoinformatics.

ERP is not merely a system for collecting revenue; it encompasses many components. It is a complete system that runs county health services, staff payments, and other aspects of county governance. If we stop payments, as some people want, the developer will become aggrieved, and it will be shut down. This will shut down all county government services," the governor said while speaking in Ngoliba Thika on Wednesday, where he distributed farm inputs to over 7,000 farmers.

He added, "This is a deliberate attempt to sabotage our operations, a strategy devised by some of our detractors who are unhappy with our performance. It’s through the ERP that we have increased our revenue from Ksh2.9 billion to Ksh5.4 billion, and we have used that money to undertake massive development that some people are uncomfortable with. They want to stop us, whatever it takes"

The High Court has ordered the county not to pay a balance of Ksh. 166,295,500 to Filtronic International Limited, accusing the firm of fraudulently securing a multi-million-shilling tender for the development and installation of the system that is credited for doubling the county's own source revenue collection.

The amount represents the remaining portion of a Ksh 230 million full contract.

But while the EACC says it's pursuing cases of fraudulent tendering, leaders have fingered it for being used by a section of Kiambu leaders to terrorise the governor over the 2027 election politics.

Kiambu Majority Leader Godfrey Mucheke questioned why a system that has helped the county collect over Ksh2.5 billion, which was being looted through the previous system, has become a target of EACC.

"It started with Wamatangi being labelled a criminal after over 100 policemen raided his home. When they could not link him to anything, they moved to his 2017 businesses and also failed. After the fake health crisis failed, they now want to cripple his entire government by attempting to shut down the system. Why would anyone be unhappy with a system that has helped Kiambu double its revenue?" Mucheke said.

The controversy surrounding the procurement of the system was the reason behind the EACC raid at the governor's residence in Kabete, in an operation involving over 50 armed police officers, with the anti-graft agency then saying it was pursuing the county chief over an alleged conflict of interest.

However, when EACC forwarded the investigation file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), where it was rejected over a lack of sufficient evidence to stand a trial, the name of the governor was not among the people the detectives were intending to charge.

Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka described it as laughable that the EACC was viciously targeting the Kiambu county government for a system that had successfully mobilised its own source revenue that was previously being looted, rather than being celebrated.

"For the first time, I am shocked to learn that Kiambu's own source revenue has grown to almost Ksh 6 million, up from Ksh 2.9 billion. If this were happening in another country and the figures were accurate, the governor of Kiambu would be celebrated, as no governor has achieved such a feat since devolution.  The only thing that is so funny, and I was laughing at it, is that the system responsible for this achievement is what has put him in conflict with the EACC, allegedly because it was acquired through corrupt means, yet it is the same system that has generated the revenue,” Senator Onyonka said.

Wamatangi said when he took office in 2022, the county was operating using three separate revenue collection systems owned by private entities that collected revenue on behalf of the county.

One system was responsible for collecting structured revenue, such as business permits; another collected revenue from car parking; and the third managed collections for physical planning and land rates.

The system, he said, was porous and would facilitate theft of revenue at the collection point, forcing him to terminate the county's engagement with them and replace it with a county-owned ERP that automates all revenue systems and services.

"In one of the instances, we visited the Thika slaughterhouse, and a client paid Sh20,000 through the system. However, there was a delay in reporting back, and when the report finally came in, it indicated that only Sh16,000 had been deposited into the bank. There was no explanation for the missing Sh4,000, as the county did not have control over the system at that time. We terminated the three and created a county-owned system," he said