Thousands of jobless people are accusing former South C Member of the County Assembly (MCA) Osman Khalif Abdi of defrauding them in their job-hunting attempts at the Nairobi City County Government.
The County Government in March floated over 3200 job opportunities inviting applications for positions of lower cadre to supervisory roles, an announcement that attracted over 20,000 applications from the majority of jobless youth in the capital. Fingers point at Ex-MCA Osman in Nairobi county employment scandal
Following the overflowing applications, which at times left the county online portal jammed, the rogue Ex-MCA allegedly engineered a con-game where he is accused of calling some of the applicants with the promise of securing them positions that they had applied for.
In exchange, Osman has been demanding bribes of between Ksh. 300,000 to 500,000 from innocent job seekers looking for simple jobs like clerical officer positions.
Osman is said to be working with rogue insiders in the IT department where he obtains the contacts of applicants, mostly women, and calls them to arrange for a meeting with them. It is at these showdy meetings that he demands a bribe to secure them the job opportunity.
A cross-section of the jobseekers is now crying foul since the Ex-MCA conned them with their money but has failed to deliver. Most of them have intimated that they were promised to be called in for interviews in one or two weeks’ time but the interviews have not materialized to date.
“I met mheshimiwa (Osman) and two other people in a restaurant near city hall and they promised that since we had thousands of other applicants, I would get the job if I pay 500,000 but I only had 300,000 which my mother took a loan from a Sacco. Now I have not been called for the interview and he never picks my calls,” lamented Grace Njoki, a resident of Buruburu estate in Nairobi.
Contractors who worked with the past county regime have also raised the red flag complaining that they are being conned by Osman but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
The contractors, most of who have pending bills owed to them by the county have complained that Osman has been fleecing them of large sums of money with the false promise to fast-track their payments.
Osman hunts down the contractors who are owed large sums of money and offers to help them get paid after parting with 10 percent of the amount. However, these promises have failed and the contractors are now crying foul after realizing that they have been conned.
The former MCA is also at the center of a corruption scandal where he looks out for contractors seeking opportunities to work with the county government and asks for a bribe to oil the system.
“Osman charges between Ksh 100,000 to 200,000 from people seeking contracts at the county and promises to enter their details into the system and facilitate your pre-qualification, which is supposed to be a free service from the county government,” said a Nairobi businessman who sought anonymity.
A daredevil corruption lord, Osman is accused of soliciting bribes of up to 30% of the total amounts on tender payment claiming that the bribe is supposed to share out between himself, The Governors Chief of staff Mr David Ndungu Njoroge, Chief Officer Finance, Madam Asha Abdi, and the CEC Finance Mr. Charles Kerich.
According to sources, to get tender at the county, one must go through this rogue former ward Rep who in turn demands bribes of between two to ten million shillings depending on the amount quoted in the tender documents. Your company or organization must part with at least Ksh. 2 Million for pre-qualification.
He has as well ventured into construction approvals where for one to get county approval for buildings, you have to oil his palms to the tune of Ksh 5 million and up to Ksh 10 million protection fee for buildings without approval or title deeds. According to sources very close to his misdeeds, he thrives in areas where the Somali community dominates like Eastleigh, Pangani, Parklands, Kilimani, and South C.
Osman has been assisting rogue businessmen to grab public land and build houses without county approvals where he collects half the value of the land For one to sink a borehole, Osman demands a Ksh 2 million bribe while for an investor to meet the governor, he asks for Ksh 2 million facilitation fees upfront.
Osman is said to have as well solicited huge sums of money from those who had applied for CEC’s and Chief Officer’s jobs with the promise of securing their employment with many of them now crying foul after being conned. -He received Ksh 5 million for shortlisting in the CEC’sS jobs.
It remains a mystery how Osman, who campaigned for Sakaja’s rival Polycarp Igathe of Azimio for Nairobi’s gubernatorial seat, managed to penetrate into the governor’s inner circle at the expense of those who stood and vigorously campaigned for Sakaja’s election as the Nairobi boss.
He was among the MCA who closely worked with the former Nairobi Metropolitan Service under General Mohammed Badi and has been accused of among others, mistreating staff at city hall.
MCAs have also complained about Osman’s unbecoming character but no action has been taken against him and called on Sakaja’s administration to tame him and declare him a persona non grata within the corridors of City Hall.
The rogue Ex-MCA who brags to have the Governor’s ear, and is his wheeler-dealer and chief broker, has as well in recent times turned his mischief on the Inspectorate department. Osman was recently at it again trying to solicit money from top officers at the Inspectorate department who refused to fall to his blackmail tactics.
He has recently been termed, an accusation that he is yet to denounce, as the governor’s official bribe collector.
Efforts to get the MCA give his side of the story proved futile as it was said he had traveled outside the country with the governor.
This begs the question, is the governor aware of these underhand dealings by his trusted soldier?
