Former Youth Enterprise and Development Fund board Chairman Bruce Odhiambo is dead.
In the 90s, Bruce Odhiambo was renowned as the go-to music producer whose magic touch turned all forms of lyrics into hit songs at his Johari Cleff studios.
His production house, whose mantra is “a true quest for zero defect”, has churned out classic albums such as Koffi Olomide’s Ultimatum and Eric Wainaina’s Kenya Only.
Over the years, he has worked with the likes of Les Wanyika, Mercy Myra, Jah Key Malley, K-South, Kayamba Afrika, Kanji Mbugua and, more recently, with newcomers such as Sauti Sol.
When not in studio, the 52-year-old chaired the Youth Enterprise Fund (YEF).
Odhiambo however found himself dancing to the tune of parliamentarians who had summoned him to explain how Sh180 million magically disappeared from the Youth Enterprise Fund.
The single father of one daughter and a son was appointed by Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2014 to head Youth Enterprise Fund board for three years. But in the period, the fund was on various occasion embroiled in numerous graft allegations with claims that money meant for youth actually never end up to them.
Mr Odhiambo was hard-pressed to explain how suspended chief executive Catherine Namuye had ended up being the sole signatory of the fund’s bank accounts, contrary to board instructions.
Reading this tweets #ArrestBruceOdhiambo and l’m disappointed.You have a job to do and the first thing you do is steal?What’s wrong with us?
— Boniface Mwangi (@bonifacemwangi) March 2, 2016
The 52-year-old also went on the spot for sacking the funds former finance manager Benedict Atavachi yet he was not authorized to do so. Atavachi, a former finance manager at the fund told the Public Investments Committee (PIC) that the chairman sacked him for blowing the whistle on the irregular transfer of Sh180 million to Quorandum Limited.
Odhiambo then appointed Catherine Namuye and made her the sole signatory to the account from which the KSh 180 million disappeared mysteriously.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, the acclaimed producer sang: “I acted unilaterally in accordance with what the management, through the chief executive officer, asked me to do without board approval.”
Ms Namuye and Mr Odhiambo are said to have circumvented Chase Bank’s relationship manager Jedida Kabiru, leading to the draining of millions of shillings from the YEF’s account.
Former President Mwai Kibaki established the YEF in 2006 to provide loans to youth enterprises to enable them start businesses and help reduce unemployment.
The noble idea was to see young people, in the 18-to-35-year age bracket, access funds at a highly discounted interest rates.
Since its formation, the Fund has used up billions of taxpayers’ money with minimal returns to be reported, if the many critics of the programme are to be believed.
One thing the Fund has not had a scarcity of, however, is scandals. Almost every year after its conceptualisation, the programme has been enveloped by dishonour, a state that has seen it play host to several CEOs and chairpersons in its short existence.
Mr Odhiambo, who has no regrets over taking up the job, opines that the reason for high turnover and conflict is that some of the Fund’s leaders are not “pulling in the same direction”.