Nairobi, Aug. 31 -- Before World Bank cut ties with Webmasters for listing "fake" experts for a project in Somalia, the company and its founder, James Ayugi, had already hit the headlines for the wrong reasons back home.

Mr Ayugi and Webmasters, the company behind the eCitizen platform, were recently banned from World Bank-funded projects for five years, adding to the controversies that have dogged the techpreneur since he built the expansive digital platform in 2013.

The World Bank took the action after claims that the company listed two individuals as "experts" in a tender bid document for a project in Somalia financed by the bank.

The "experts" later told investigators that they had been listed by Webmasters for the job without thei...