For a man who is damn rich, the events of yesterday are quiet unfortunate!
How can an helicopter, a mere metal, glass and rubber than flies disrespect the governor that way?
Samuel Kuntai ole Tunai is a man of means that we have covered extensively on this blog.
Despite looting billions from Narok County Government and also owning some large swathes of land in the Maasai Mara Game reserve that gives him billions every year, the man could not service his old helicopter.
The first family of Narok are known to order Pizza using a chopper from Nairobi. That explains how rich this people are.
This Lady Lori guys are crazy!
What is Lady Lori?
Lady Lori is a helicopter hiring firm that is owned by Tunai through Wazungu proxies.
A scandal at Lady Lori is that they send an invoice to Narok County disguised as travel services by revenue collection agents of Narok.
The bill per week from the choppers that the governor uses is estimated at a whooping Sh12 million.
Narok County government is invoiced whether the chopper has flown or not.
The county pays for services the chopper offers even if it is picking Pizza and hotdogs from Nairobi.
The particular chopper that crashed yesterday is a Robinson (R-44) belonging to Karen Blixen Camp Trust. The copper is often used to track elephants in conservation efforts in the Mara Elphant Project.
Ghosts from the past Tunai – KAPS dealings
In 2015, residents of Narok County lodged a petition at the court, among the issues were accusations of embezzlement of public funds and resources amounting to billions of shillings by Governor Tunai since he took over office.
First, the residents argued that between March and December 2013, the portion of revenue expected by the county from the Mara Conservancy was Sh144.5 million, but the actual remittance as per the report of the Controller of Budgets was indicated as Sh18 million. They accused the conservancy of retaining more than Sh126 million.
“You as the governor deliberately ensured that the county government has no mechanisms of ascertaining how much Mara Conservancy and Kaps collect and remit to the county revenue account,” said the residents.
Secondly, the overall issue that they wanted interrogated are the Sh7.3 billion county budget for the 2013/2014 financial year, payment of county fees, alleged non-payment of park fees by businesses associated with the governor, alleged non-remittance of revenue by the Mara Conservancy, activities of the Kenya Airport Parking Services (Kaps), procurement of goods and services in the county, the Maasai Mara Community Development Fund and the Mara Conservancy.
In Kenya, politicians use their offices to protect themselves from prosecution over ill-gotten wealth. Tunai came into power to help Ole KIjape secure a through-pass in most things and to stifle questions over his wealth. Now that two terms are over, Ole Tunai plans to run as Kilgoris Member of National Assembly, this will ensure that they are still in power where it matters; near that Mara Triangle.
It is estimated that the Mara Triangle of the Maasai Mara under Mara Conservancy (a firm controlled by Gov Tunai) collects an average of Ksh800 million per annum from park fee. Let alone land rates from the hotels and lodges located within.
Also take for example if the charges are Ksh8000 per night and 1.5 million tourists visit the Mara, and spend two days. That translates into about Ksh24 billion which is not declared anywhere.
Taking over the Mara
Equity Bank was the first to be dislodged as a payment receiver for the Maasai Mara National Reserve, after Smauel Tunai came to power. They were hurriedly replaced by Kenya Airports Parking Services (KAPS) as a manager of the numerous gates and points of entry into the Mara.
The gates in Ewaso Ngiro, Nairobi, Takek road block, Ololaimutia, Sekenai and Rasiara would all be manned by KAPS which was by then largely controlled by the Tunai’s through their company Oloololo Ranch Group Trust.
When KAPS took over, to this say ‘no one knows how much is collected’ from the Maasai Mara, however, residents estimate the money to be in billions annually.
In order to better control their Mara Triangle, the two billionaires registered the Mara Conservancy tasked to collect revenue in the area previously owned by Kilgoris district. Mara Conservancy is led by Brian Heath as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Together these rogue men control over 26,000 hectares of land which consists of 7 highly lucrative camps which offer balloon rides and airstrips.
After taking over the Maasai Mara National Reserve revenue collection from Equity Bank through KAPS, the duo forced collection to be put into their private accounts. It has never been disclosed how much KAPS collects despite a 2015 petition by the residents who wanted the court to force newly elected Governor two years into office to declare the revenue amount.
Tourists pay $80 (Ksh8000) per night. Now, because we receive close to a million tourists from outside and some internally from the country. That makes it nearly 2 million, even as per figures for 2019 by the Ministry of Tourism. A huge chunk of these tourists visit the Mara.
Associates got rich quickly
1 The Ngiritas of Narok County
Resian Victoria Sompisha, is very lucky in that according to sources at the county, she is the one who wins 90 per cent of the tenders. And just to show how powerful she is, it is reported that the lady unlike the many peasant businessmen and tenderpreneurs in Narok, her payment is done instantly and in full.
‘Watu wengine wanacheleweshewa pesa zao za tenders, huyu mama yake utoka pap’, said the source who works at the county.
She mostly flies rather than use the road
2. Elizabeth Lolchoki, Narok County’s Madam Boss
Being a former banker and obviously conversant with anti-money laundering (AML) laws, Ms Lolchoki is a cunning fox to the authorities and an asset to ole Tunai.
She owns apartments in Ngong Town of neighboring Kajiado County on behalf of the Governor. The apartments are registered in her name.
After she left KCB Bank, she worked as a mere officer at Governor Tunai’s office in Nairobi. With a keen eye for details and ambitions to escape poverty, the lady soon found her way into the heart of the governor.
She is so powerful now that it is said that she was the one who had two powerful finance guys demoted from Tunai’s cabinet in late December 2019.
Moreso, there’s one more thing about girl-boy relationship; even if it is for work, they tend to metamorphose into intimate encounters.
Whispers say the power that Ms Lolchoki wields comes from her accepting other watery gifts from the governor.
3. Mr. Philip Neranto Tipaa, Education Chief Officer
The Chief Officer (CO) for Education in Narok County Government Mr. Philip Neranto Tipaa was appointed to office a few years ago and in those few years earning less that Ksh200k per month, the man now owns half of Trans Mara Sub County. He runs Lolgorian ward like his own home.
It is alleged that Mr. Neranto owns flats and buildings carefully spread across Narok county.
The former headteacher of Ilkarian Primary School has learnt the art of creative accounting in the education ministry under his charge that has seen him embezzled millions from the county coffers.
A source working at the county government of Narok told cnyakundi.com that Mr. Neranto’s fortunes have risen tenfold since he came into office in 2016.
Apart from buildings, the Maasai moran is said to be the owner of cows, cars and tracts of lands.
“He is putting up buildings at Lolgorian town like nobody’s business. He’s also buying high breed cattle and shambas so easily. He’s governor’s closest ally and probably knows his bank account passwords. He also bought a Toyota Hilux double cabin that roughly costs 6 million’, said the source on condition of anonymity.
It is also alleged that the Chief Officer has firms that do works for the county, that are owned through proxies. This is conflict of interest.
Apart from the assets mentioned above that the source stated are owned by Mr. Philip Neranto Tipaa, the buildings Neat Mara Guest House and Neat Mara Hotel, cnyakundi.com has learnt, are allegedly owned by him.
4. Fred Ntekerei, the man in the shadows
Governor Tunai’s kickbacks and stolen money is handled by his Chief of Staff Fred Ntekerei. The CEC’s some of whom are his relatives are good at the game of enriching the family. Running the county like a family business where they mostly enrich themselves without care for the Narok citizens.
One Narok resident puts it like this:
Narok county CEC’s, CO’s and Directors are just departmental puppets, whose work is just to spearhead programs, prepare and sign governor’s loot. They only rely on a measly Ksh.500,000 monthly department operation fund. They are very broke. Narok County MCA’s will pass any law/Bill just to be Paid by the Governor 20k with a fuel of 5k.
One thing is certain, those close to Gov Tunai are rich because they are the only one who matters according to sources. These are Fred Ntekerei, Elizabeth Lolchoki, and the Governor.
