BackThe Commission on Administrative Justice (Kenya’s Office of the Ombudsman), Kenya’s Ombudsman has faulted the Government of Kenya for irregularly awarding a tender worth approximately $ 58 million to a Chinese Company. The Ombudsman wants the tender for a housing project cancelled and the culpable senior public officers charged in a Court of Law.
Findings of the Ombudsman’s investigation revealed that the Chief Executive Officer, and a few Board Members of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), flouted the Government’s procurement regulations thereby compromising the integrity of the procurement process. Additionally, approximately $133,000, meant to be remitted to the Nairobi City Council to meet the inspection and s project plan fees could not be accounted for.
“It is the Commission’s strong view that the NSSF management be made to account for this money purportedly paid to the county government,” noted Cmmr Otiende Amollo, Chairperson of Kenya’s Office of the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman found that the procurement process was mismanaged. The budget of the project was intentionally inflated, bids altered, relevant officers excluded from the process and consultancies approved unprocedurally, in contravention of the public procurement regulations and procedures.
NSSF is established under the Kenya National Security Act No. 45 of 2013 with a mandate to provide basic social security for its members and their dependants for various contingencies as provided for under the Act. The issues that emerged from the investigation raise the question whether contributors to the NSSF fund – both employees and employers – would have got value for their money.
The Ombudsman has recommended that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission swiftly and speedily conducts investigations to determine whether the irregularities in the approval and tendering process for the project were occasioned by corrupt intent on the part of the NSSF Board and management and if so, take appropriate action.
Source: Commission for Administrative Justice, KENYA
