Ngunyi fails to appear before House team over NYS deals

Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi failed to appear before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday morning, telling the team that he had not received the summons over the National Youth Service scandal.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Nicholas Gumbo said the panel had used an old email that Mr Ngunyi no longer uses.

The committee has now rescheduled Mr Ngunyi’s grilling to next week.

“Mr Ngunyi had written a letter, saying he did not understand how he was paid Sh12.5 million. We used all the details in the letter we received and we even have a signed delivery of the offices where his offices are based,” Mr Gumbo told journalists at Parliament.

“I have just talked to him and he has said he did not receive the summons, because it seems we used an email that he no longer uses. We will have to reschedule for some time next week.”

VALUE FOR MONEY
Mr Ngunyi was to be grilled by the PAC over the procedure, tendering and qualifications of his firm, The Consulting House, to receive contracts worth a total of Sh90 million from the National Youth Service.

“We will be interested in knowing how the Sh90 million was arrived at, and if Kenyans got value for their money.

"We would like to understand the whole process from the tender notice, the tender adjudication and the tender award, with all the minutes from the Ministerial Tender Committee,” Mr Gumbo told journalists.

The committee will also seek to understand how the consulting done by Mr Ngunyi’s company was valued.

“Consultancy contracts are based on costs drawn by a recognised body, if one is a member. If you are not, cost of service is based on quality, time and cost. We will want to know how this figure was arrived at,” said Mr Gumbo.

5-POINT VISION

Mr Ngunyi’s firm was hired to restructure the National Youth Service (NYS) in what later came to be referred to as the NYS 5-Point Vision.

It had two contracts — one signed in March 2014 for Sh40 million and another for Sh50 million signed on October 13, 2014.

The first was fulfilled and Mr Ngunyi was paid.

However, it was in the second contract that Auditor-General Edward Ouko discovered that he was paid Sh62.5 million, which was 25 per cent more than the agreed contractual sum of Sh50 million.

“Further enquiries revealed that the payment of Sh12.5 million on April 21, 2015 was done using a copy of (the) invoice dated March 11, 2015, which had been used to support an earlier payment of the same amount done on March 16, 2015,” the auditor-general said.

At 2pm, the PAC will grill the directors of a company called Out of the Box Solutions Ltd for a contract for publicity for the Planning Department, at a cost of Sh302.46 million.