After leaving Malawi, an alleged fraudulent organisation, Bridgin Foundation, has found a new target, Kenya and her President William Ruto.
The foundation which was registered in Belgium was on March 21 granted an audience audience with Ruto where talks centred on projects to be financed by the organisation
“Following engagements with the mission early this year, the president of Bridgin Foundation yesterday met President @WilliamsRuto and discussed possible projects to be undertaken in the country,” Kenya’s embassy to Brussels tweeted.
However, the little known foundation with no physical office has become notorious across the world for promising multimillion dollar projects which do not take off.
In November last year, the Lazarus Chakwera administration announced that Bridgin would invest $6.8 billion (K7 trillion) in infrastructure across the country. An amount which is more than double Malawi’s budget for the current financial year.
The initiative was set to start with a $1 billion Hi-Tech Kamuzu University Teaching Hospital in Blantyre with satellites in Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Mangochi.
President Lazarus Chakwera was over the moon following the signing ceremony.
“This year, heaven has smiled on us by allowing Christmas to come early for our country. Never in the history of this nation has there been a developmental program as momentous as the one we are embarking on today with the Bridgin Foundation,” said President Lazarus Chakwera during the signing ceremony.
Critics argued that the grant appeared too good to be true considering that little is known about Bridgin.
Many pointed out that the charity’s website has no information about its financiers or any completed projects.
The government defended the deal saying it was not spending any money and would not incur losses even if the projects failed to take off.
However, a recent investigation by The Nation has revealed that taxpayers footed travel and accommodation bills for Bridgin Foundation officials during the contract-signing visit.
Bridgin Foundation’s president Mahmodou Tanko confirmed that Malawi footed the bills but said the money would be reimbursed at the start of project implementation.
However, Malawi will likely never get back the money considering that Bridgin has a history of announcing projects and not implementing them.
From Uzbekistan and Nepal in Asia and Ecuador in South America to Nigeria Uganda, Nigeria and Liberia in Africa, Bridgin has made big pledges with nothing implemented on the ground.
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