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.
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.
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