NAIROBI — The long-drawn corruption trial linked to the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal returns to court on Thursday, seven years after the case first broke into the public eye.
Former Principal Secretary for Youth and Gender Affairs, Lillian Omollo, is among 37 people facing charges in a case that has come to symbolise Kenya’s ongoing struggle with high-level graft.
The accused are alleged to have conspired to defraud the government through fake payments and inflated tenders money meant for youth programmes that reportedly disappeared into the pockets of public officials and private contractors.
The matter, formally known as Anti-Corruption Case No. 10 of 2018, is scheduled for mention in a Nairobi court as the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) awaits the outcome of a related appeal. That decision, prosecutors say, may influence how the main trial proceeds.
“This is a complex case with several moving parts,” said a senior prosecutor familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We are closely monitoring developments at the Court of Appeal.”
Omollo, who once served as a high-ranking official in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, has long maintained her innocence. In earlier court appearances, she and her co-accused denied all charges.
The NYS scandal, one of several to hit the national youth programme, triggered public outcry in 2018 after revelations that billions of shillings had been siphoned off through dubious contracts and ghost suppliers. It followed a similar scandal in 2015, raising fresh questions about accountability in public service.
Though the scale of the fraud shocked many, years of legal back-and-forth have left the public with little closure. The case has faced repeated adjournments, procedural delays, and numerous legal challenges.
Civil society groups have criticised the pace of the trial, pointing to a broader pattern in which high-profile corruption cases often stall. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” said activist Nduta Mwangi of Transparency Watch Kenya. “We want to see meaningful outcomes, not endless court mentions.”
Still, legal experts caution that the courts must be allowed to follow due process.
The Thursday hearing is expected to be brief, with the trial court receiving updates on the status of the appeal before deciding next steps. No final ruling is expected at this stage.
For now, all eyes remain on the corridors of justice where the NYS case, once a lightning rod for national anger, waits again for its turn on the docket.
