Court orders arrest of Senator Mandago over Finland, Canada scholarship saga

The court has ordered that Mandago be arrested "and brought before the court to answer to the said charge and to be further dealt with by the law.'

Mandago is among four suspects in North Rift County’s heavily controversial scholarship scandal.

Mandago, along with county officials Meshack Rono, Joseph Maritim, and Joshua Lelei, have been accused of conspiring to steal Ksh.1.1 billion from a Kenya Commercial Bank account in Eldoret registered under the Uasin Gishu Education Trust Fund, which was meant for overseas university fees for students participating in the Uasin Gishu County Overseas Education Programme.

With hundreds of graduates affected and their parents taking to the streets to demand refunds from the county government, the cancelled Finland and Canada scholarship programme has sparked outrage and significant protests in Uasin Gishu.

So far Mandago has recorded a statement with detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to aid in the probe.

Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) have also questioned him about his involvement in the programme, which was started when he served as governor.

According to reports, the Uasin Gishu Education Trust Fund account was established in May 2021, and by December 2022, parents had credited Ksh. 957,167,143 to the account.

A total of Ksh.257,326,740 was deducted from the account in order to facilitate beneficiaries' travel to Finland and Canada for the programmes.

The anti-corruption watchdog is concentrating its investigation on Ksh.57,538,429 withdrawn locally by Uasin Gishu County officials appointed to manage the fund.

Meanwhile, he has maintained that he will honour any summons order, dismissing claims that he has been wanted by DCI officers.

"There are rumours all over Eldoret Town that DCI Officers have been looking for me the whole night. As a law-abiding citizen, I am available once summoned. I have met with the leadership of parents and agreed on the way forward as per their press statement issued last evening," he said on X formerly known as Twitter.