Kisumu MCAs want Sh11m furniture tender revoked
A Kisumu County Assembly committee wants a disputed tendering process for the House furniture terminated, citing violation of the law.
The Public Accounts Committee was tasked to investigate the tender for the supply and delivery of the Assembly debating furniture, which was awarded to Kodiaga Maximum Security Prison.
This was after former Kisumu North MCA Elisha Oraro, now the substantive Speaker, wrote to the committee seeking statements on clarification how the procurement for supply of the furniture was done.
Oraro said he acted following genuine concerns from the members and the public on how the furniture was procured.
He said the MCAs would want to know if the supply contract was done within the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act.
“We want to be made to understand the scope of work on the Assembly furniture. This should detail the quality, number, cost of the procured chairs and list of firms that participated in the expression of interest,” he said.
The procurement was to see the Assembly source 48 executive seats valued at about Sh11.5 million.
However, upon conclusion of its probe, the watchdog committee chaired by Chemelil MCA Maurine Otiang’ established that the tendering procedure violated the Public Procurement and Disposal Act (PPDA), 2015 and recommended the termination of the entire process.
“The procurement process opted to defeat the element of openness and competitiveness resorting to apply the direct procurement procedures with complete disregard of the PPDA,” read part of the report.
Contravene law
In its report seen by People Daily, the committee also found out there was no budgetary allocation for the purchase of furniture for the debating chambers.
The committee further observed that the procuring department contravened the provisions of Article 227 of the Constitution on procurement of goods and services which stipulates that there should be fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective procurement process.
Additionally, the team found out that there was failure to establish a tender evaluation committee for the furniture procurement as enshrined in the PPDA.
The completion of the team’s investigation process comes several months after probe was launched into the queried tendering procedure.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had last year moved in to investigate circumstances under which the Assembly had procured the controversial seats. However, the agency is yet to deliver its report.
The previous Assembly leadership had defended the procurement of the chairs.
Former Speaker Onyango Oloo said there was no mischief in the pricing of seats and tables since this was a government-to-government tender which has its own rules.
