At last (Dr?) Gachara netted

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Former National Aids Control Council director Margaret Gachara was last night behind bars.She was captured after a dramatic five-hour hide-and-seek game with detectives from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.The officers laid a trap for Dr Gachara — who had a Sh100,000 prize tag on her head — after they were informed she had sneaked into her posh Runda home in Nairobi at dawn yesterday.About 10 detectives raced to the home in several cars but they were barred from entering the compound by Dr Gachara's guards. " Her workers said she had not been seen. But the officers camped at her gate and insisted they would only leave after searching the house and the compound, " said a senior police source.He added: " Dr Gachara surrendered at 11am when detectives threatened to force their way into her compound. " She was whisked away to KACC's headquarters at Integrity Centre under tight security.The embattled woman was asked to record a statement before she was taken to a city police station.Dr Gachara was booked in the Occurrence Book and thrown in the cells for an overnight stay. She is scheduled to be presented before court today.Her arrest comes two days after KACC published her photograph in the newspapers and offered a Sh100,000 cash reward for information leading to the arrest of former Aids Council boss.Dr Gachara has been charged with obtaining Sh24 million through false pretences. A warrant of arrest had already been issued.Recently, the Government admitted in court that it had failed to trace the former director.Yesterday, the police source said detectives had received information that Dr Gachara was living with a relative in a city estate.He said: " She used to sneak back into her Runda home very early on different days, check if things were in order and then go underground. " The source said police were tracking down the relative for harbouring a wanted person.The person who tipped off the investigators would receive the Sh100,000 cash reward, he said.According to a report by investigating officer Albert Ariada, which was recently read to the court, Dr Gachara had last been seen when she was going the US to visit her children.When Mr Ariada went to her Runda home on February 1 to execute the warrant, he was informed that Dr Gachara was out of the country.But on a subsequent visit, the officer got a different report from Dr Gachara's children when they told him they had travelled from the US after they learnt through the Internet that their mother was facing a charge.Mr Ariada also said Dr Gachara passed through Arusha, Tanzania to fly to the US.The former director is charged that on August 20, 2001, for purposes of gain, she instructed Ms Caroline Ausukuya and Mr Francis Thuku, human resource and finance managers at the council, respectively, to treat her salary figure in her letter of appointment as a net rather than a gross salary.The chairman of the council, Dr Mohammed Abdullah, was also charged with abuse of office by arbitrarily increasing the salary of Dr Gachara. The case will be mentioned on March 15.The former director has since been replaced by Dr Orege, 52, who has been in an acting capacity since October last year. A skin specialist, Dr Orege has a doctorate in Aids and tuberculosis from Harvard University. He worked for the Kenya Medical Research Institute for 22 years.Dr Gachara's troubles began when the Efficiency Monitoring Unit of the Office of the President revealed that falsified salary details from her former employer were presented to the government while she was being recruited.She ended up earning Sh2 million a month — nearly seven times more than her salary scale entitlement of Sh300,000 a month.

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