Senior officials at the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority (NWHSA) are on the spot over alleged tendering malpractices and receiving hefty kickbacks in the award of Sh231million tender for the construction of Naku’etum Peace Dam in Turkana County, The Informer can authoritatively reveal.
High ranking officials and senior ranking managers are said to have received bribes to award the contract to J&K Investment Kenya Ltd and even issued certificate of completion to the contractor four days before major defects were discovered at the site.
Already, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) is investigating at least five top officials in connection to the scam vide investigation file number EACC/PI/INQ/33/2020.
Yesterday, when contacted for comment, neither did NWHSA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sharon Obonyo responded to phone calls nor did she respond to our short text messages.
According to our investigations, among those adversely mentioned include the office of the CEO, procurement, finance and audit departments respectively.
The CEO is the accounting officer of the parastatal.
“Yes, several people have been cited as persons of interest.” A senior officer at Integrity Centre, Eacc headquarters told The Informer.
Before she was elevated to the position of the CEO, Obonyo served as the Chief Legal Officer at the authority.
The project is a brainchild of the Office of The President Uhuru Kenyatta mooted in 2019 between Uhuru and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni when they reached a deal in September 2019 to construct a peace dam to end border conflicts sparked by water shortages.
Among key issues under probe include how NWHSA resident engineer David Gitau issued completion certificate to the contractor dated June 21, 2021 and four days later wrote a correspondence to the contractor citing minor works and defects after an inspection tour by NWHSA staff from Nairobi on June 25.
Also, expenditures incurred as per diems to staff members seconded from Nairobi to the site to oversee the rectification of the defects, money incurred for mobilisation of equipment and the nature of works undertaken against the costs spent forms part of the ongoing investigation.
Investigations by The Informer show the authority allocated Sh3million in per diems for supervision by staff from the head office in Nairobi.
Another Sh6.1million and Sh1.7million was set aside for hiring of equipment and fuelling respectively.
Interestingly, the board did not sanction the works and the said expenditures.
Through a correspondence dated July 22, 2021, J&K Investment Kenya Ltd managing director Li Shunkang said some of the works the authority is correcting were not instructed.
In an August 18 letter, Li wrote to the authority saying, “it has come to our attention that the employer has taken over the works and started demolitions.
“Please note that the project is on the defects notification period and we shall neither be responsible nor liable for any risks, damages, or defects – constructional, operational, or whichever – that may arise.” Part of the letter read in part.
Also, another Sh532, 000 was allocated to four staffers as per diem for 20 days while inspecting the works and Sh89, 600 for fueling field vehicles.
Some Sh20,000 was set aside for service and maintenance, Sh76,800 for payment of casuals, Sh12,000 for materials, Sh48,000 to purchase empty drums, Sh1.3 million allowances for drivers and operators, and Sh323,400 for site office works.