Kalonzo accuses Jubilee of sabotaging Thwake dam project

Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has accused the Jubilee government of instigating the collapse of the multi-billion Thwake dam project through “deliberately manufactured integrity issues”.

Mr Musyoka claimed the tendering and donor funding controversy surrounding the Sh62.3 billion dam were created on purpose by senior government officials to kill the project and politically punish the intended beneficiaries.

The former Vice President said the procurement mess that has prompted the project financiers —African Development Bank (AfDB) — to raise the red flag, was purely by design to occasion funding withdrawal and hence collapse of the project.

He questioned the ministry’s motive of awarding the contract to the second lowest bidder whose bid price exceeded the lowest bidder by a whooping Sh3 billion saying the extra monies were to be shared as kickbacks.

CONTRACT REJECTED

“The disagreements between Water cabinet secretary Eugene Wamalwa and his principal secretary clearly show how some people in government are only keen on sharing bribes and kickbacks instead of the success of the project” Mr Musyoka said.

The AfDB rejected the contract award to the second lowest bidder STECOL Corporation (Sino Hydro Tianjin Engineering Co Ltd) — which quoted Sh39.5 billion last week.

Principal Secretary Patrick Mwangi rooted for Stecol Corporation while the CS wanted China Gezhouba Construction Group Corporation (CGCGC), which put in the lowest bid of Sh36.9 billion.

Mr Musyoka challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to show his commitment to fighting corruption by sacking those involved in messing up the project. The Water PS was transferred in a reshuffle on Friday.

“If the donors pull out due to corruption, the collapse of the project will only affect thousands of residents in Kitui and Makueni counties who were to benefit from it,” Mr Musyoka told the Nation in a telephone interview on Sunday.

The multi-purpose water project is being financed jointly by the Kenya government and the AfDB with the government financing two thirds of the cost while the donors giving the remaining third.

APPEALED DECISION

The Chinese firm which lost the lucrative deal has appealed the decision to award the tender to the second-lowest bidder to the public procurement administrative review board (PPARB).

“You are hereby notified that on March 30, 2017, a request was filed with the PPARB… under section 168 of the Public Procurement and Asset, Disposal Act 2015, no contract shall be signed between the procuring entity and the tenderer awarded the contract unless the appeal has been finalised,” the board said in a notice to Mr Mwangi and copied to Gezhouba.

AfDB director-general for East Africa Gabriel Negatu said the bank objected awarding the tender to the second lowest bidder because there are no justifiable reasons to reject the least evaluated bidder.

In the letter to Mr Wamalwa and copied to Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, Mr Negatu said AfDB’s procurement rules and procedures prohibit modification of bids including negotiation of price for works.

Even before the bank raised questions, Mr Wamalwa had been summoned by the parliamentary committee on lands to shed light why hundreds of families in Kitui and Makueni counties affected by the dam project have not been fully compensated.

COMPENSATION SCAM

The affected families had petitioned parliament to save them from the alleged land compensation scam.

According to the residents’ petition seen by the Nation, most of the farmers have been under compensated in a process littered with deliberate errors while other people who do not have land in the area have been paid.

Mr Wamalwa and national land commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri were asked to explain the discrepancies in reimbursement rates that have seen the project stall at the preliminary stages after the compensation bill rose by a further Sh1.5 billion.

“We ask the National Assembly to liaise with the relevant government agencies to establish whether the survey for acreage of plots was done professionally and if not recommend a repeat of the exercise to address our concerns,” the petition read.

The petition which was presented by Kitui Rural MP Charles Nyamai who wondered how the NLC was demanding an extra Sh1.5 billion and yet the project land has not expanded after the thorough adjudication and valuation by government surveyors.

“We have credible information that these funds were used to compensated non-existent people who do not own any land in Kitui or Makueni at the expense of legitimate land owners” Mr Nyamai petitioned.