NHIF scandal taken the country by shock and more so the people involved.The lastime we saw a junior office officer in a money fraud was during the 2016 NYS Scandal when Josephine Kabura who was a hairdresser linked to the Ksh 791 million together with the then devolution CS Ann Waiguru.
Fast forward to 2018 a receptionist from NHIF is living big like literally. Mr Fredrick Sagwe Onyancha, 39, described by his friends as a “private man who loves the finer things in life”. Those finer things include eight town houses in the upmarket Green Park estate off the road to Mombasa at Athi River, where he lives with his young family. A modern villa town house at the estate costs upwards of Sh35 million, according to the developer’s website.
In addition he is described to love the little creature comforts of the best in cars and is said to own the latest edition of the Toyota Land Cruiser V8 and a Range Rover Sport.
But it is the occasional helicopter rides by the young procurement staffer at the National Hospital Insurance Fund, from Wilson Airport in Nairobi to his home, that have caught the attention of his friends and neighbours, who marvel at his opulence.
Onyancha who was arraigned in court appeared humble, if not ordinary, demeanour came almost naturally, especially when pitted against the imposing stature of his co-accused, chief executive officer Geoffrey Mwangi and finance director Wilbert Kurgat.
Onyancha is said to have been earning Ksh 150,000 not until he changed department in 2014 to join NHIF’s tender evaluation committee.Four years later Onyancha had bought eight town houses at the estate in Athi River.
His refined neighbours at Green Park were soon left in consternation as Mr Onyancha embarked on a mission to spruce up one of the houses, which he had chosen to make his home, taking its value to more than Sh40 million. The cost of labour in the estate soared as he paid groundsmen Sh2,000 daily in a rare show of generosity in the construction sector. Developers like to stretch the value of their shillings as far as possible, and Mr Onyancha’s deep pockets caught the attention of labourers around the estate.
Onyancha who is grew up in Umoja Estate in Nairobi’s Eastlands is now the face of the NHIF scandal, with his vast estate among items targeted by the Asset Recovery Agency, which confiscates properties accumulated through proceeds of crime.