Hello!

I hope this finds all of you well.

I have sinned against humanity with my recent
action of being silent about the standing of the chapter.

This is owed to the fact that some members were alleging I do not have
the total sum of funds which at this stage I have to admit is the truth!!

I have failed everyone who trusted me. I hope to salvage some of that trust and
the friendship because it makes me feel bad and sick when I sit and think
that someone somewhere is undergoing a rough time as a result of my actions.
If anything I would want the world to be a better place for everyone.

I had previously took the stance that the funds were intact which was
the natural thing anyone would do to maintain their name in the
good books.To speak the truth, some of it is intact and in liquid form
while another chunk was used by me at my time of need as I was in a very tight
spot and am ashamed I made a wrong decision  that is haunting me now.
This was neither intended nor planned.

Chapter activity that requires financing has been getting it well until
there was an impasse recently when the per diem issue arose which
I cleared by paying the concerned parties. I have lived through a test of
my time, done a mistake, learnt my lessons and am now trying to
get my life back on track.

I am sincerely sorry for putting everyone through this.
I have had to learn this the hard way but I hope this is the first step
towards resolving the stalemate. More importantly,I hope the
lessons drawn shall assist to develop guidelines to ensure such is not
repeated anywhere else given such a situation.

Things are not working as intended for a mistake that I fully acknowledge
is on my part. I still feel I must apologize, not because this is the right
thing to do, but because I am sincerely sorry for what happened and I would
never wish that to happen again and generally to anyone else.

Advice you will share on how to handle this will be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely sorry,
Stephen.

On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 12:45 AM, Oliver Stegen <info@oliverstegen.net> wrote:

Dear all,

 

Sad as this episode in the beginning history of WMKE has been, we’re at least one step further now than we were a month ago. Rather than culprit-bashing, I’d rather prefer to see us utilizing this as an opportunity to inspect ourselves and our motives. Let’s recognise that each of us is easily tempted (granted, everyone in different domains) and let’s rectify ourselves where we have selfish motives and don’t contribute to WMKE for the common good.

We have already been told that “it will be Stephen's responsibility to return the amount”. Let the remainder of the board decide on a time-frame for that. Only if Steve does not fulfill his responsibility, can next steps be called for but certainly not just a couple of days after the initial announcement of what has happened. Don’t fall into the trap of revenge and escalation but rather concentrate on what is needful now to keep WMKE moving towards our common goal of the sum of human knowledge being available to every one of our fellow citizens of this planet.

 

Grace and peace,

Oliver (aka BT)

 

From: Kosgei Isaac [mailto:kips8505izo@gmail.com]
Sent: 05 October 2012 09:19
To: The discussion list for the Wikimedia Kenya chapter.
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Kenya] WMKE Financial Status

 

Hi,
Abbas, I agree with you on this. It is a shame that after all the Mess at Wikimedia Kenya, Steve has not issued an apology on this.
In my opinion I think WMKE should take action because embezzlement of chapter funds is a crime that should not go unpunished.
I have copied Steve on this thread and I stress that action should be taken.

On 5 October 2012 09:00, Abbas Mahmood <abbasjnr@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

 

(I've cc-ed Steve, just to make sure he gets this message: I'm not sure whether he's still subscribed to this list).

 

Steve: After keeping up with this whole charade for months now, and being the primary cause of this mess that we’re Wikimedia Kenya is in, the least that you could do is issue a public apology for your heinous actions.

 

Sincerely

Abbas Mahmood

Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2012 19:10:09 +0300
From: xelawafs@gmail.com
To: wikimediake@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: [Wikimedia Kenya] WMKE Financial Status



Hi all,

As most of you already know, we have had concerns raised over our finances surrounding suspicions of embezzlement of funds by our treasurer. I am sad to confirm these suspicions. Stephen Wanjau, the treasurer has come forward and admitted to the Board that he has used part of the funds for personal non-chapter expenses amounting to approximately USD. 800 and resigned from the Board effective immediately.

We will now move to wire back the remaining funds to WMF for keeping until we have our own bank account and more than one signatory for the same. As for the embezzled funds, it will be Stephen's responsibility to return the amount.

This is a major setback for the Chapter having had so many plans that got sidelined over confrontations to get the issue resolved. It is my hope that we will mobilize through this trying time and come out better and more accountable. I would also like to take this opportunity to thanks Asaf for his support in this matter.

On Behalf of the Board,
Alex Wafula



Dear all,

As many know, in Wikimedia Spain we are dealing with a very nasty business.

While we were preparing our financial report we caught our former secretary stealing money from our chapter.

The stolen amount is in the vicinity of 2500 euros. He even left a debt of ~100 euros that I have personally covered. It may not seem much, but it was all we had.

The former secretary never gave access to the new treasurer, he just made it look like the bank was delaying the process of the change of treasurers.

He also sent us falsified extracts of the account and the amount of money in it.

We were so concerned with the behaviour of the bank that we were about to change to another one. And then we received a call from the bank saying our account was in debt.

When confronted, the former secretary confessed. All the data are clear, for the bank's official reports are avaliable now.


Also, with the gently support of the WMF, in the persons of Asaf, Garfield and Jay, we have already start all the legal actions needed according to Spanish law, including formal complaint to the Police and all the papers with the Bank. We have prepared an official statement too, "just in case" any spanish media want to discuss the case.

This has been a huge blow for us, as you can imagine. Fortunately, it has been only one person and the rest of the members of WMES are now trying to re-boost our chapter. Of course, by september will be a General Assembly, for all the Board have resign with the aim to lead a transparent process.

Best regards,

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