County officials in court over purchase of 60 laptops for Machakos MCAs

Ten people, including members of the Machakos County Assembly's Procurement Committee and a supplier, were on Tuesday charged with flouting procurement rules in the purchase of 60 laptops. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By  Muthini Stephen

What you need to know:

  • The accused allegedly flouted procurement rules in the purchase of laptops for members of Machakos County Assembly.
  • Seven officials of the tender committee were charged with “carelessly” failing to comply with procurement laws.
  • They are accused of approving direct purchase of the laptops on June 18, 2013.
  • The accused were freed on a Sh5 million bond each with a surety of Sh1 million.

Ten people, including members of the Machakos County Assembly's Procurement Committee and a supplier, were on Tuesday charged over the purchase of 60 laptops.

The accused allegedly flouted procurement rules in the purchase of laptops for members of the Machakos County Assembly.

Seven officials of the tender committee were charged with “carelessly” failing to comply with procurement laws by approving direct purchase of the laptops on June 18, 2013.

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They allegedly did not fulfill the required guidelines to allow direct purchase.

The seven are Peter Wakaba, Peter Muema, Peter Kioko, Teresiah Ngina, Jonathan Munatya, Evelyne Munyiva, Nancy Wambui Njuguna and Raphael Makau.

NOT IN PREQUALIFIED LIST

In a separate count, Ms Njuguna, who is the county's Principal Procurement Officer, was charged with inviting quotations for the supply of five laptops from companies that were not in the prequalified list of suppliers for Machakos County.

In another count, Raphael Makau, Nicholas Munyao, Charles Kinyanjui Njuguna and Antmak Office Technologies Ltd were charged with forging and submitting a fake tax compliance certificate purporting it to have been issued by the Kenya Revenue Authority.

The accused were freed on a Sh5 million bond each with a surety of Sh1 million.

They were given an alternative of Sh1 million cash bail.

The case will be heard on January 12, 2015.

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