Inside the Alleged Pay-to-Pass Extortion Ring Rocking a Public Training Institute
Allegations of extortion, bribery, and institutional rot have erupted at the Kenya Institute of Highways and Building Technology (KIHBT) – Kisii Campus, triggering a high-stakes corruption probe now gripping the transport training sector.
On 28th November 2025, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives, acting on search warrants, swept into the KIHBT Kisii Campus and raided the homes of three officials from KIHBT and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). Their mission: dismantle what investigators describe as a well-oiled bribery syndicate allegedly responsible for manipulating NTSA driving examinations and siphoning millions from unsuspecting students.
According to preliminary findings, the corruption chain allegedly revolved around two KIHBT instructors—Philip Dawa and Fidel Omondi—who are accused of turning a public training institution into a personal cash machine.
Investigators say the duo ran a compulsory Kes3,100 “facilitation fee” racket, a payment students were forced to make if they hoped to pass NTSA-administered plant operation test-drive exams. Students who refused to pay were allegedly failed, regardless of their competence.
Even more troubling, some students reportedly never sat for practical exams at all—yet still received passing marks and official certificates. The EACC believes this was made possible through coordinated collusion between the instructors and NTSA examiners who allegedly received a cut of the illicit collections.
The rot went beyond exam bribery. Investigators discovered that the mandatory Kes65,000 tuition fee, payable strictly through an official paybill number, had been replaced by an underground “discounted cash option.”
Students who paid instructors directly were charged Kes40,000, with money allegedly collected in cash or sent to personal M-Pesa lines belonging to the instructors or their proxies—an arrangement in blatant violation of college financial regulations.
A review of mobile money data paints an alarming picture:
Philip Dawa is alleged to have moved over Kes34 million through M-Pesa across two numbers in three years.
Fidel Omondi reportedly transacted Kes8 million during the same period.
The volumes, investigators say, are wildly inconsistent with the lawful earnings of public trainers.
During the raid, EACC officers arrested Fidel Omondi, who was allegedly found carrying Kes171,000 in cash, neatly tucked inside an envelope in his jacket—believed to be part of that day’s collections.
Detectives carted away financial records, mobile devices, transaction logs, and other materials now undergoing forensic analysis. Omondi was processed at the Kisii Police Station, where he is being held as investigations intensify.
The Commission says more arrests are likely as the evidence trail expands.
For many young Kenyans seeking technical certification, KIHBT represents a gateway to employment in the lucrative construction and transport industries. The allegations now being probed suggest that gatekeepers at the Kisii Campus weaponized that desperation—turning training and certification into a pay-to-play marketplace.
Students interviewed anonymously described a culture of fear, where complaint meant failure and failure meant repeating expensive modules. Others claimed that exam days were choreographed, with those who had “cleared” being fast-tracked while the rest were sidelined.
In a statement, the EACC reaffirmed its commitment to dismantling bribery networks embedded in public service delivery points.
“We encourage members of the public to report any unethical conduct through the Commission’s toll-free hotline 1551 or at any of our regional offices nationwide,” the Commission noted, signalling an ongoing crackdown on corruption in technical training spaces.
If the preliminary findings hold, the Kisii Campus case could become one of the most significant training-sector corruption scandals in recent years—one with implications for NTSA certification integrity, road safety, and the credibility of vocational training across the country.
As investigators peel back the layers of this scheme, one question lingers: How deep does the rot go—and who else stands to fall?
