Auditor General’s office under probe for ‘irregular’ tendering

The Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA) has begun fresh investigations into alleged irregular tendering at the Kenya National Audit Office (Kenao).

The Sunday Nation established that Kenao, led by Auditor General Edward Ouko, which has been in the forefront exposing alleged corruption and misuse of funds in government, has to prove it did not flout procurement regulations in seven tenders worth at least Sh700 million.

A PPOA document in our possession and addressed to Mr Ouko shows the tenders in question include the supply of IT equipment and systems, motor vehicles — five Prados and a separate one for 10 Ford Everest — office servers, auditing software, 350 laptop computers, consultancy and a contractor for the proposed office partitioning.

“It has come to our attention that your procuring entity flouted the public procurement and disposal Act, 2005, in the processing of the tenders above. Consequently pursuant to section 101 through 105 of the Act, the office of the Director General institutes an investigation,” wrote PPOA Director General Maurice Juma in a letter to Mr Ouko dated March 26.

Mr Ouko, who audits government spending to ensure taxes are used properly, has lately fingered national and county governments for engaging in corruption.

Last month, he found that Sh500 billion in taxpayer funds could not be accounted for and could, therefore, have been looted.

He caused a storm when he singled out counties for misusing funds. His reports were picked up by senators who summoned governors in a dispute that spilled over to court and drew reaction from MPs, Cord leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

According to the letter, Mr Juma appointed P. Wangai (team leader), J. Kilaka and R. Ndirangu as investigators.

“They are authorised to inspect, peruse and carry any documents that may assist in the investigations. The powers of the investigators are well defined in section 103 of the Act,” said Mr Juma.

The investigators are allowed to, among other things, examine all records and documents related to each tender to establish whether the procurement process met the standards set out in the law.

The investigations have been split into two phases where the team will first review the documents before seeking clarifications at some stage of the process.

“The first phase of investigation will involve reviewing the documents used to process each of the procurements.  Later at an appropriate date and time which will be communicated to you well in advance the team may visit your organisation,” said Mr Juma.
During the visit the investigators may request additional documents, interview relevant officials and gather information from other sources.

The investigation team was expected to have collected all documents from Kenao by Friday.

The documents

“All documents submitted to the Authority will be returned back to you at the end of the investigation,” wrote the PPOA boss.

The documents requested by PPOA include the current status of the procurement process, approved procurement plans, purchase requisition, tender notice, tender register, bank tender documents, original bid documents, complete set of tender opening minutes, appointment letters of tender processing committee, contract agreement and delivery notes.

Yesterday, Kenao head of Public Relations Wilfred Marube acknowledged receipt of the document. But he noted that external auditors had already started work.

“The letter from PPOA was received while the Office of the Auditor General had already initiated an audit of all internal control systems including the procurements that are alleged,” he said, adding that the work by teams of both internal and external auditors had been under way for the last one month and was continuing.

He added that the external auditors are expected to present their findings to Parliament.

“As one of the two independent offices in Kenya it (Kenao) is oversighted directly by Parliament through an independent external auditor,” said Mr Marube.

He added that although Kenao was not answerable to PPOA, the procurement body is welcome to investigate. Mr Marube further argues that the PPOA letter contains a tender that has not yet been contracted relating to a proposed office partitioning and renovations.

“The Auditor General has in the last one week engaged the office of the Director General of PPOA to ensure that all alleged contraventions of the PPOA Act are brought by PPOA to the attention of Parliament appointed Auditors without delay,” said Mr Marube.