A corruption storm is ripping through the Coast Water Works Development Agency (CWWDA), laying bare a culture of impunity that threatens the region’s water security.
At the heart of the scandal is a KSh 32 million court award to Victory Construction – an award that critics say should never have stood.
Yet it did. Quietly. Without resistance. Without appeal.
That silence is now the loudest alarm bell.
The ksh 32 million ruling that no one fought
Sources within the agency say CWWDA’s legal team deliberately failed to challenge the magistrate’s decision, raising grave suspicions of collusion between senior managers, in-house lawyers, and the contractor.
What should have been a routine legal contest instead became a clean transfer of public money.
The buck, insiders insist, stops with former CWWDA Chief Executive Engineer Martin Tsuma.
He was at the helm during the dealings with Victory Construction and exercised ultimate authority over contracts and legal strategy. Today, that legacy is under intense scrutiny.
“This was not incompetence,” said one senior source. “It was engineered. Everyone knew their role. Once the money was released, it was to be shared.”
According to multiple accounts, the KSh 32 million payout was only a fragment of a broader looting scheme designed to bleed the agency dry while masking theft as a legal obligation.
Decisions were allegedly choreographed. Files went missing. Objections were never filed.
A System Built to Bleed Public Funds
Engineer Tsuma, once a powerful figure in Coast water infrastructure, has since fallen from grace.
He was recently demoted to a technical officer amid allegations of receiving kickbacks from contractors – claims he has yet to publicly address.
The rot, however, appears deeper.
Procurement officer Stanislus Jira is also under fire for allegedly awarding tenders to law firms with little interest in protecting the agency’s development agenda.
Instead, sources say, procurement decisions were driven by personal convenience and private gain.
“The pattern is consistent,” said another insider. “Law firms were selected not to defend CWWDA but to facilitate payouts.”
The consequences are being felt far beyond boardrooms.
Across the Coast, residents endure chronic water shortages. Infrastructure lies in decay.
Projects stall. Communities ration water while millions disappear through paper trails and court corridors.
Dry Taps, Rising Anger
In response to the deepening crisis, Coast Governor Abdulswamad Sharrif Nassir has formally written to the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, seeking authority to take over repairs and rehabilitation of water infrastructure within the county. It is an extraordinary request – and an indictment of CWWDA’s stewardship.
Yet even this intervention faces resistance.
Critics allege that key technical offices – still under Engineer Tsuma’s influence – are deliberately frustrating repair efforts.
The goal, they claim, is to manufacture system failures that justify emergency tenders and create fresh opportunities for plunder.
As investigators circle, the questions grow sharper.
Who authorised the legal silence? Who benefited from the payout? And how many similar deals remain buried in CWWDA’s files?
For a region desperate for clean water, accountability is no longer optional. The scandal has spilled into the open – and it is refusing to dry up.
