Fresh details in Wa Iria’s tender awards as Mvurya faces a storm

Fresh details have emerged of how Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria’s government could have circumvented procurement laws in award of tenders as Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya faces a revolt over a Sh400 million bursary fund.

The same week, their Nyeri counterpart, Nderitu Gachagua, survived the MCA’s wrath after he chose to dialogue with the politicians who had sworn to send him packing.

In Murang’a, a single road was split into 11 different sections to circumvent procurement laws and all the tenders for its construction awarded to three companies, an investigation by the Sunday Nation shows.

BREACH OF PROCUREMENT LAWS

In what could be a pointer to the glaring non-observance of tendering procedures in the county government, fresh details show that a majority of tenders for construction or repair of roads in the county for the current financial year were awarded to single contractors even though the roads had been split into sections presumably to fasten the procurement process.

In some cases different companies were awarded tenders to undertake the same work, yet all of them were paid.

Documents in our possession, some from the Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo and others from the county finance department, show that Benoni Trading Agencies, Benisa Limited and

Kangema Roads and Water Company were awarded tenders to do works on the road through single sourcing but each of their tenders were capped at about Sh3.9 million.

Benisa Limited got four tenders to do the same road, Benoni three and Kangema Roads three.

The same three companies also won a majority of the tenders in other projects that were suspiciously capped at less than Sh4 million, which raises questions as to whether this was a move to evade open tendering and allow them to be single sourced.

For accountability reasons, government procurement laws demand that all tenders above Sh4 million must be subjected to open tender. For purposes of reducing bureaucracy, those worth amounts below this can be single sourced.

Governor Wa Iria — who has said he is ready to face his accusers — is currently under siege after being impeached by members of the county assembly over a raft of accusations, including failing to manage the county’s debt which has increased to the level of Sh2.5 billion.

Even more intriguing is that some projects were double tendered to more than one company.

Kangema Roads, for instance, got 12 other infrastructure tenders that were never subjected to open tender since they were all priced just below Sh4 million.

A majority of these were road construction or grading projects but included the construction of a dam in Mugumoini, a water pan at Kakuzi and construction of a walkway at Kahuhia Girls, all valued at Sh3.9 million.

Benisa Limited got another 18 projects while Benoni got another seven that were all priced slightly below Sh4 million.

Further, Benisa Limited was paid twice to construct a single water pan at Kangutu in Kakuzi Mitubiri ward.

The first tender, paid through LPO number 2835/2014, was worth Sh3.97 million while the second, paid through LPO number 2724-2775/2, was worth Sh3.99 million, according to documents.

The same water pan’s tender was awarded twice to Kangema Roads and Water Company and different payments issued for its construction.

Some Sh3.98 million was paid through LPO number 2881-85/20 and Sh3.94 paid through LPO number 2812-2813.

SH2OOM LOAN

Governor Wa Iria, who is also accused of borrowing Sh200 million from the Kenya Commercial Bank without a guarantee from the Treasury — which was not factored in the debt strategy paper — moved to the High Court on Friday seeking to stop the Senate from investigating him.

Mr Justice Joseph Onguto declined to issue orders stopping his impeachment, saying the governor could not prove that he would suffer any prejudices as alleged in the case he had filed.

An 11-member team at the Senate is currently investigating the over 20 allegations made against the governor by his county assembly.

TROUBLE SIMMERING IN KWALE

In Kwale, 30 MCAs on Friday boycotted two functions presided over by Deputy President William Ruto in the area following their differences with Governor Mvurya, which have boiled over with threats of impeachment taking centre stage.

“We are told that our MCAs want to control the Sh400 million bursary kitty. They have shown that they are greedy and we shall vote them out in 2017,” said a resident, Ms Nyamvula Mwamkare.

Governor Mvurya said he would not interfere with the MCAs “who have taken their own independent decision,” but added that the people of Kwale County would arrive at their own judgement.

“What can I do? I will not engage them since they have already taken a decision (to impeach me). I will not tell them to do this or not to do this,” said Mr Mvurya.

The Governor expressed surprise that even the County Assembly Speaker Sammy Ruwa “is leading the onslaught against the Executive whereas this is not his role”.

The Executive wants the Act amended to remove the powers of the MCAs “as this is unconstitutional,” arguing that the Sh400 million will not be released by the Treasury until this was done.

On the other hand, the MCAs have maintained that the situation will remain the same.

They accused the Executive of “cooking letters, facts and figures claiming it is the Controller of Budget”.

BURSARY KITTY

Mr Mvurya refused to disburse the funds citing shortfalls in the County Bursary Act 2014, which gives MCAs powers to act as patrons, saying there will be a conflict of interest if they are allowed to control the funds.

The MCAs reacted angrily to a letter dated October 12 and signed by County Budget Coordinator Margaret Githini, saying the county government will get its requisitions for the fund once the law has been changed and conforms to the new requirement.

Ms Githini opposed the inclusion of MCAs as patrons of ward bursary committees and recommended a review of the Act, as well as disbandment of the ward bursary committees.

The MCAs now feel that the issue has painted them in a bad light as people who are not up to the task in making laws.

Speaking at a public rally in Kinondo on Thursday, Speaker Sammy Ruwa defended the assembly, saying it is not true that the Bill is bad and termed the governor’s views “mere propaganda.”

He claimed that the main cause of the confrontation is the deliberate move by the Executive to violate the law and misuse public funds.

“If a law has been passed by the assembly, it has to be implemented and I am saying this without fear because I know there are ways which can also be used to impeach me,” he said.

GACHAGUA ESCAPES IMPEACHMENT

Elsewhere in Nyeri, the County Assembly has abandoned their planned impeachment of Governor Gachagua after a one day retreat in Nanyuki where they are said to have buried the hatchet.

Some of the members had openly turned down the invitation. But a Kamukunji called on Friday morning by the speaker appeared to have softened their stance. Some 45 MCAs out of the 47 showed up for the meeting on Friday.

The rift between members equally came to the fore with some of them asking that members of the press be barred from the meeting. It took the intervention of both the speaker and the governor to quell the tension.

And Assembly Speaker David Mugo added: “Members of the press I know you like conflict even where none exists. Sir Winston Churchill said only fools don’t change their minds.”

“This is man with deep pockets and he is compromising our MCAs. It is very sad,” said Mr Gachagua.

There has been a growing rift between Governor Gachagua and the 47 ward representatives who are accusing him of underperformance and abuse of office.

“These are people who feel that they need to destabilize the governor so that they can have a good chance at 2017. I want to tell them to forget. That will not happen,” he said.
Reporting by Justus Wanga, Vincent Achuka, Daniel Nyassy, Farouk Mwabege and Gitonga Marete and Esther Mwangi.