Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa has been appointed chairperson of the Kenya Water Towers Agency Board, in the latest appointments by President William Ruto.
Echesa will serve for a period of three years, effective May 19, 2023.
“I, William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, appoint Rashid Echesa to be the Chairperson of the Kenya Water Towers Agency Board, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from the 19th May 2023,” read the notice.
He takes over from L. Arch. Robert M. Kariuki.
The former CS rode to prominence when he was controversially hired to the country’s top decision making body in 2018 despite being a primary school drop out.
His short tenure in government was characterised by a number of embarrassing issues. Some of them revolved around national teams lacking financial support while preparing for major competitions. He also failed to implement the Sports Fund which was part of the Sports Act 2013 that was enacted into law during his predecessor’s tenure.
Though he denied it, he was linked to a smuggling ring that brought eight Pakistani bellydancers arrested at a club in Nairobi’s Westlands area. The foreigners found their way into the country and engaged in suspicious activities in a suspected human trafficking scandal.
The government confirmed that the dancers, who reportedly flew into the country with the Sports minister’s authority, had been engaging in suspicious activities.
The former CS was also widely mentioned in a syndicate that involved circulation of fake money in Ruiru, Kiambu county.
The money, in local and foreign currency, was found stashed in boxes in a house off the Eastern by-pass near the popular Kamaki’s area, leading to the arrest of three people—a couple and their female business associate.
His luck however ended when he was dismissed from the Cabinet after being linked to a Sh39 billion fraudulent arms deal.
The former CS was in 2019 charged alongside three others with six counts of making a false document in the Sh39.5 billion fake arms deal.
They are also alleged to have obtained Sh11.5 Million from Kozlowski Stanley Bruno by purporting that they will award him with a tender to supply military equipment.
However, they all denied the charges.
They were set free in November 2020 after a court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict Echesa who had been accused of defrauding two foreign nationals by promising to award them a tender to supply firearms to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
Senior Principal Magistrate, Kenneth Cheruiyot, nullified the CCTV footage that was presented in his court by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). Cheruiyot argued that the exhibit did not indicate how Echesa committed a crime at the DP’s office.
The footage did not show Echesa and his visitors committing any offence,” the Magistrate ruled.
He added that prior evidence provided in court further proved that Ruto was not aware of Echesa’s visit.
The Magistrate also ruled that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) did not present the two foreigners, Kozlowski Stanley Bruno, and Mamdough Mostafa Lofty in court. The two were the complainants in the case.
“I have considered the evidence tabled in court and find the first four accused persons with no case to answer and are hereby acquitted,” ruled the Magistrate.
