A construction worker does final touches at one of the walls of Lake Basin Mall in Kisumu in March. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI
The anti-graft agency has questioned senior officials at the
Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) over irregularities in building
of the Sh4.1 billion mall in Kisumu whose construction overshot budget a
third.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission
(EACC), in a week-long process that began on Tuesday and concluded on
Thursday, targeted nine former and current board members to establish
why its construction costs was varied by more than 33 percent or over
Sh1 billion
Sources at the EACC said that the contact sum may have been inflated by “close to or more than Sh2 billion.”
Under procurement laws, variation should not surpass 15 percent of the contract value.
The
nine former and current officials were invited for interviews and
statement recording at the EACC Western regional offices in Kisumu
through a letter dated November 12, .
The letter received at the LBDA on November 13 listed directors; Earlie Ngani, Katherine Muoki and Jack Otana for questioning.
Others were; Mr Patrick Ouya, Steve Mwanga, Nelson Kifworo, William Omondi, William Murunga Jaluo and Abraham Koech.
EACC
Western regional boss Ignatius Wekesa said the officials were required
to give an account of what they knew about the implementation of the
project.
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"We are at the tail end of investigations. We wanted the
officials to give us information that will enable us get the truth about
the project works," said Mr Wekesa.
Specifically the
EACC was interested in establishing whether there was value for money in
all the contractual obligations in the construction of the mall and
whether public funds were efficiently well utilized.
“They
are interested in knowing whether the board was compromised in
approving certain payments and whether the payments met standard rates,”
said a board member after being questioned by the EACC sleuths.
The
official pointed out that the EACC was also interested in getting as
much information as possible that led to the “huge variation of the
contract sum by more than Sh 1.6 billion.”
The probe comes in the wake of push and pull in the recent recruitment of LBDA managing director.
The Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development is also investigating whether the process was above board.
This follows a public complaint raised by Mr Chris Obel to the ministry through the Principal Secretary Susan Koech.
An
internal memo by Dr Koech to the Cabinet Secretary; Adan Mohammed dated
July 2 calls for investigations in regards to the shortlisting.
The
memo titled; public interest complaint and request for investigation is
also copied to the ministry’s Chief Administrative Secretary
Dr Koech recently confirmed receipt of the complaint and noted that it had been forwarded to the CS for action.
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