Tycoon Ngungi Kiuna’s Firm Supplied Maseno With Faulty Equipment In Controversial Sh44M Tender

When former Maseno University deputy vice chancellor in charge of academic affairs Mary Walingo hand-picked a company to supply Xerox machines, she set in motion a chain of events that could now see the institution lose millions of shillings while offering a peek into financial irregularities that have nearly bankrupted some higher learning institutions.

The contract saw Maseno University pay Sh44 million for machines that barely functioned for the six years the contract was in force in violation of public procurement laws.

Maseno University contracted XRX Technologies, a firm owned by billionaire businessman Ngugi Kiuna, on February 8, 2010 to supply the machines.

XRX was also to offer printing and binding services that were beyond the machines’ capability.

The firm delivered and installed 19 machines within various buildings at the university’s main campus in Kisumu County.

Under the deal, Maseno was to pay Sh700,662 with additional fees for other services that the photocopying machines were incapable of performing

Of the 17 machines Maseno acknowledged receiving, only two were functional. Despite the machines malfunctioning, the university still paid the monthly fees in the first three years.

Prof Walingo, currently the vice chancellor at Maasai Mara University, is under investigation over suspected embezzlement of Shi90 million at the institution.

Two years into the contract between Maseno and XRX, the university started defaulting on the monthly payments. In May 2012, eight Maseno University bosses met three officials from XRX in a bid to resolve the payment standoff. The parties resolved to reconcile accounts and determine unpaid debts.

Any undisputed debts such as those accruing from printing of look into the debts claimed by graduation materials, calendars and examination papers were to be settled within seven days of the meeting.

In the course of a series of meetings, Prof. Walingo was tasked with heading a committee that would look into the debts claimed by XRX. The committee however failed to prepare a report or give feedback in relation to the debts.

In another meeting held in December 2014, the university expressed its dissatisfaction with the machines. Homa Bay County Assembly Speaker Elizabeth Ayoo who was at the time Maseno University’s legal officer, said in the meeting that the institution’s bone of contention was that the malfunctioned machines were in that state because XRX was not servicing them.

XRX however insisted that It only stopped servicing the machines in 2013 when Masenos debts had grown substantially, The university presented XRX with a report showing that only two out of the 17 machines asessed were working.

“The service levels of the Xerox machines were very unsatisfactory. The status report shows most machines are not in good working conditions mainly due to lack of routine service the supplier,” acting ICT services director George Omuono said in the report.

At the end of the December 2014 meeting. Maseno University agreed to the Sh25 million that had at the time accrued before the end of the year. However, after defaulting, XRX sued the university for Sh44 million.