Court suspends plea taking for suspects in Ksh.10M eCitizen heist at MTRH

The suspects, Khamisi Hussein Akida and Jane Wangari Wachira, who is a former employee of MTRH, are now expected to appear in court on March 12, 2026, to plead to the charges of conspiracy to defraud and violation of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act.

The heist, which is believed to have occurred between January 1, 2025, and February 9, 2026, targeted unsuspecting patients from various parts of the country seeking medical services at the facility.

When the matter came before the Chief Magistrate Peter Ndwiga, the investigating officers, through a miscellaneous application, pleaded for more time to enable them to complete their investigation related to conspiracy to defraud charges against the two suspects.

Led by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation Officer Edwin Chirchir, attached to Naiberi police station in Ainabkoi Sub County, told the court that they are yet to forward to the DCI headquarters in Nairobi the bank and Mpesa statements for forensic analysis, given that the mode of transaction and communication was done through phones.

Detectives in Eldoret have moved to dismantle a sophisticated criminal syndicate that has reportedly siphoned more than Kshs.10 million from the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) by manipulating the government’s eCitizen payment gateway.

The duo was seized by DCI officers from Ainabkoi Sub-County after the hospital management filed a report to the police linking them to more than Ksh. 10 million.

The daring fraud, which points to a potential breach in the government’s primary digital payment platform, has sparked fears of high-level internal collusion within the country’s second-largest referral hospital.

The court heard that upon his arrest, Akida led police detectives to Ms Wachira, identifying her as his accomplice.

According to an affidavit by the investigating officer, the suspects bypassed the official government paybill, 222222, through a clever bait-and-switch.

The suspects are said to have convinced patients to pay their bills in cash or via their personal M-Pesa numbers.

They then allegedly accessed the eCitizen platform to "clear” the patients’ bills on the system without depositing a single cent into the hospital’s account.

With the system showing "paid," official receipts were issued, and patients were discharged, leaving the hospital with a massive financial hole.

The lid was blown off on February 5, when an internal audit at MTRH revealed the Ksh. 10 million discrepancy.

The matter was officially recorded at the MTRH Police Patrol Base on February 9.

Police believe the two are just the tip of the iceberg in the multi-million shillings heist.

Detectives are currently pursuing senior officers in the hospital’s Finance and ICT departments, who are suspected of providing the technical "backdoor" for the fraud.