ISO firm now threatens City Hall with court action

The company that issued the City Council of Nairobi a controversial ISO certificate is now threatening to sue over failure by the Council to pay for services it received.

In a letter to Nairobi Town Clerk Roba Doba, DQS-Kenya Managing Director Charles Karobia denied claims by the Council that it had settled the bill owed to the certifying firm.

“We note with dismay that you alleged that this company has been paid Sh 20,000,000… We have not received any money whatsoever from the Council,” Charles Karobia wrote on Friday in a letter also copied to the Local Government PS Karega Mutahi.

“We are concerned that as the Chief Executive of the Council, you would issue such a false and erroneous public statement without any substantive evidence.”

Last week, Mr Doba told reporters that the Council had paid up Sh20 million to DQS-Kenya, but would suspend payment of the balance after the local accreditation agency, Kenas, declared the ISO certificate fake.

Kenas Managing Director Sammy Milgo had told journalists that the City Council’s certificate a fake because the company that licensed the local firm to certify the Council had delinked itself from the process.

“The purported certification that has been awarded to the City Council of Nairobi is not genuine. DQS which supervises all its subsidiaries around the world has instructed the City Council to withdraw that certificate,” Mr Milgo had said.

He further disclosed that due process had not been followed in awarding the ISO 9001: 2008 Quality management System (QMS) certification.

On Sunday, former Town Clerk Philip Kisia who oversaw the the issuance of the ISO certificate, claimed City Council had borne the brunt of conflicts between the firm and the accrediting agency, besides failing to report to its parent company.

“The certification was not fraudulent. It was a victim of Kenas and DQS-Kenya institutional and Protocol disagreements,” he said, tabling a copy of the licence the Germany firm is said to have given to DQS-Kenya.

DQS-Kenya, which had been an affiliate of DQS-Germany, was granted a contract to audit the Council for ISO certification for a fee of Sh13 million.

In addition, City Hall was required to pay for the six audits the company had done to the council since 2009 when the certification examination began.

In April, the company awarded the interim certificate after it was satisfied with the way the City authority had installed systems in e-payment, adopting Information Communication Technology, efforts to reduce corruption and cutting ghost workers.

The Germany firm is said to have cancelled the licence it gave to DQS-Kenya following the fiasco that ensued after the council was awarded the ISO certificate.

DQS-Kenya refused to comment on whether the certification had been genuine or whether the licence they had with DQS-Germany had been cancelled. But Mr Karobia demanded that the Council withdraws the announcement or else be sued.

On Sunday, Local Government PS Karega Mutahi said he had not received a copy of the letter, but insisted his Ministry would not be party to the conflict because “we do not know what they (DQS-Kenya) did for them.”

“As a ministry, we do not discuss payments by a body corporate. Even if I did receive the letter, there is little we can do. I think the City Council will deal with it better,” he told the Nation on phone.

By Sunday evening, Mr Doba’s phone was not going through and Nairobi Mayor George Aladwa did not respond to our calls.