City inspectorate rejects Sh83m vehicles bought in 2014

The Nairobi County inspectorate department has rejected 18 pickups bought in 2014 at a cost of Sh83 million which have been lying idle in a garage.

The vehicles which were meant to ferry petty offenders to City Hall were kept at the garage for over two years as the department questioned their suitability in holding and transporting suspects.

However the vehicles were last week distributed to other departments. But now the County Legal and Justice Affairs Committee has again ordered they be grounded on the basis that the inspectorate had not been involved in the decision to distribute them.

The inspectorate department in a memo to the procurement officer, demanded that the vehicles should have specification of a double cabin pick up, be fully covered and the rear be separated from the driver’s cabin and their doors only to be opened from outside.

The vehicles, should also bear uniform colours, the meme says.

However the legal and justice affairs committee chairperson Jaffer Akassam said that during inspection the vehicles did not have grills and that the body is made of canvas and fibre glass, they do not only open from outside but also from the inside, making it easy for suspects to escape.

“This vehicles are not recommended for security purposes,” said Mr Akassam.

The chairman of the committee raised concern on how the contract was awarded to Foton East Africa despite having procured over 30 garbage trucks from the same company which all stalled.

Kwa Reuben MCA Elkana Mauti said that Foton had supplied garbage tracks which are now lying idle in the county garage and cannot be repaired as they lack spare parts.

However the county procurement officer Eng John Okuk said that the procurement process was followed and Foton emerged the winner as it had met all the requirements.

He said that other bidders like Toyota Kenya, Simba Colt, General Motors and Santec did not reach the required over 70 per cent evaluation mark hence they were disqualified.

Eng Okuk said that the poor roads to Dandora dumpsite was to blame for the faulty vehicles since the county had bought four ambulances from the same company and are still working.

However MCA Nyayo Highrise Maurice Akuk raised concern with how the department had swapped the vehicles to serve in the finance department as revenue collection transport saying it was against the procurement act.

Mr Akuk who produced a letter on how the vehicles were distributed, caught the inspectorate department off-guard as they distanced themselves from the letter.

Eight out of the 18 vehicles have been allocated to the finance department, one to the governor’s investigation team, two to the county administrator’s office and one to the Public Service management.

Others that got a share of the vehicles included urban planning and housing, roads and public works, Trade, Agriculture and social services.

The committee faulted the inspectorate on disrespecting them by wasting much time on probing the issue while they had already allowed for the distribution of the vehicles.