Sh92 million procurement irregularities that could worsen the woes of impeached Governor Anne Waiguru before the Senate.

Senate Standing Orders gives the Senate two options on how to proceed with the impeachment of a governor.

It can either appoint a special committee comprising 11 of its members to investigate the matter, or investigate the matter in plenary. Already the Senate has set up an 11-member committee to investigate the impeachment of Waiguru.

The committee includes Senators Abshiro Halakhe (Nominated), Michael Mbito (Trans Nzoia), Mwangi Githiomi (Nyandarua), Beth Mugo (Nominated), Anuar Loitiptip (Lamu), Philip Mpaayei (Kajiado), Cleophas Malala (Kakamega), Beatrice Kwamboka (Nominated), Stewart Madzayo (Kilifi), Judith Pareno (Nominated) and Moses Kajwang’ (Homa Bay).

Her Senate ‘trial’ will uphold or overturn her impeachment.

A report by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has lifted the lid on the multi-million tendering mess, part of which MCAs relied on to send Waiguru packing.

The PPRA report dated May 27 details how the Kirinyaga Executive breached key procurement laws, sometimes settling on the highest bidders at the expense of the lowest bids and taxpayers.

The questionable contracts include a Sh19 million tender for the upgrading of Kagumo Market; Sh14.5 million to procure a top-of-the-range Toyota Land Cruiser Prado as the governor’s official vehicle and Sh8 million contracts for the supply of pharmaceuticals.

The other tender questioned is for the design, development, installation and commissioning of an integrated hospital information management system valued at Sh50.6 million.

Even before Kirinyaga MCAs moved to unanimously impeach Waiguru on June 9, PPRA had threatened to refer the county to anti-graft authorities.

“You are required to respond to the observations mentioned above by 15 June, 202o. Failure to which the Authority will finalise the report and take further action pursuant to Section 38(1)(c) of the Act,” PPRA warned.

However, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has launched separate investigations into Waiguru’s administration, including claims she was irregularly paid travel allowances amounting to Sh10.6 million.

The county settled on the highest bidder without giving satisfactory explanations. This was cited in the upgrading of Kagumo Market where the evaluation committee settled on M/s Master Rock Construction Company Ltd despite not being the lowest bidder.

The lowest bidder was M/s Joames Investment Ltd which had quoted Sh19,145,740. Master Rock Construction Ltd on the other hand quoted Sh19,774,143 which was 628,403 more.

During the impeachment motion, the MCAs accused Waiguru of influencing a Sh8 million non-pharmaceuticals contract to Two Rays General Suppliers, which did not offer services to the county.

In their report, PPRA noted anomalies in the tender stating a number of crucial documents were never issued to the Authority to ascertain if the products were indeed delivered.

“The letter appointing inspection and acceptance committee, inspection and acceptance report, delivery note payment documents of Sh8 million to M/s Two Rays General suppliers Ltd were not availed to the Authority,” the report reads.

This was contrary to Section 34 of the Act which provides that “a public entity shall provide the National Treasury or the Authority with such information relating to procurement and asset disposal as may be required in writing.”

The PPRA also faulted the Kirinyaga county government for a skewed tendering process in the design, installation and commissioning of the integrated hospital information management system. The county mixed two procurement methods – Open Tender and Request for Proposal- in disregard of the law, it said.

The report further reveals that the accounting officer did not okay the decision to award the Sh14.5 million governors official vehicle tender to Toyota (K) Limited.

“The award letter to M/s Toyota (K) Limited was signed by Mr Patrick Mugo, Chief Officer, Finance and Economic Planning and the Accounting officer on 23rd August 2019 without any evidence of the delegated Authority from the County Executive Committee Member, Finance and Economic Planning,” the report states.