Suppliers demand Sh6bn from Kenya Prisons
Caroline Ngesa (left) leading some of the Kenya Prisons Service suppliers at Uchumi House in Nairobi on February 16, 2020. They claimed the service owes them over Sh6 billion. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Ms Moraa is among 2,900 suppliers to Kenya Prisons Service who are yet to be paid for the last six years.
- Ms Caroline Ngesa from Kisumu said she was jailed for 30 days by a Kisumu court for failing to pay her supplier for the maize she delivered to the Prisons Service.
Traders who supplied goods and services to Kenya Prisons Service on Sunday stepped up pressure on the government to pay them Sh6.2 billion as they called for the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The suppliers, who converged in Nairobi, accused Correctional Services PS Zainab Hussein of not being supportive.
FRAUDULENT CLAIMS
“We supplied goods and services to the government and expect it to pay us. The President has already issued directive on this and we wonder why the Ministry of Interior and National Coordination is reluctant to pay us despite assurance by Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i that that we be paid by January 30, this year,” said Ms Margaret Moraa.
Ms Moraa is among 2,900 suppliers to Kenya Prisons Service who are yet to be paid for the last six years.
She said it was sad that the Ministry of Interior termed their claims as fraudulent yet they supplied goods and services.
“We want our money and nothing else. We did our part and therefore we should not be punished at all,” said Ms Moraa.
Ms Caroline Ngesa from Kisumu said she was jailed for 30 days by a Kisumu court for failing to pay her supplier for the maize she delivered to the Prisons Service.
SH1.2 MILLION
“I was to pay my supplier Sh1.2 million but now I have to pay Sh1.6 million after the supplier took me to court. I was jailed and still I have to pay the cash yet the government is watching all these happenings,” said Ms Ngesa who has been a supplier with prisons for 14years.
The suppliers said they are going through tough economic times since some of them have children in schools and universities
Since 2018, suppliers have been waiting for the end of a verification exercise that was meant to weed out rogue ones after Kenya Prisons was rocked by a Sh4.8 billion classified tenders supply scandal.
Ms Hussein, ordered a stop to payments of all pending bills and cancelled award notifications to suppliers.
Since then, the affected suppliers have been waiting to be paid but it now seems they will not get a penny until Treasury gives them a clean bill of health.
