The Trans-Border Enterprises Company Limited is on the spot over the Shimo la Tewa Maximum Prison’s perimeter wall, which collapsed after the State paid a contractor Sh24.9 million to construct it.
Legislators have questioned the government through restricted tendering which is illegal under procurement regulations.
In the State Department for Correctional Services’ records for the 2020/21 fiscal year, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu highlighted the 225-metre wall and the rapidity with which the contract was awarded.
The contract was given to Trans Border Enterprises Company Limited through restricted tendering, which is illegal under procurement regulations.
Kenya Prisons Services Commissioner-General Brig (rtd) John Warioba testified before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the wall’s collapse is a serious concern that should be brought to the attention of the President’s National Security Council (NSC).
Brig (rtd) Warioba, who had accompanied Correctional Services Principal Secretary Safina Kwekwe, told MPs: “This is a subject that demands the attention of the NSC.”
The prison houses high-risk convicted criminals, PAC Chairman Opiyo Wandayi (Ugunja) wanted to know if the wall’s fall would jeopardise the country’s security.
The rapidity with which the contract was awarded, in violation of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposition (PPAD) Act of 2015, perplexed the watchdog committee.
According to documents submitted by Kwekwe, the contractor received a letter of notification of award of the contract on April 3, 2017, and accepted the offer.
The contract was signed on the second day of the notice of award, April 4, 2017. This is illegal under procurement law.
The contract must be signed within the period specified in the notification of award, but no later than 14 days after the notification, according to Section 135 (3) of the Act.
As per Kwekwe’s statement, building began on April 21, 2017, and the State Department for Public Works – the project supervisor – issued the first certificate for payment for Sh16.95 million to Trans Border Enterprises Company on May 5, 2017.
Kwekwe’s statement, construction began on April 21, 2017, and the State Department for Public Works the project supervisor issued the first certificate for payment in the amount of Sh16.95 million to Trans Border Enterprises Company Limited on May 5, 2017.icate for Sh4.97 million was issued and paid, and on October 10, 2017, a third payment certificate for Sh2.64 million was issued and paid on June 26, 2018.
Despite the fact that the contract was supposed to last 16 weeks starting May 4, 2017, the actual construction work started on April 21, 2017 and ended on December 23, 2017.
“It was later reported that on July 24,2018,95 metres of the wall collapsed in the area between watch towers two and three as a result of which an officer manning the watch tower two at the time sustained injuries,” states the audit report.
Documents before the House reveal that although construction resumed, the contractor abandoned the site when the wall was 60 percent complete.
The documents also show that the Prisons Department expressed concern about the contractor’s work on multiple occasions, but neither Correctional Services nor Public Works took action.
In July, last year, another 130 meters of the second perimeter wall on the southern side fell due to poor construction and delays. This jeopardised the safety of both convicts and personnel.
Last October, auditors confirmed that the collapsed wall had not been restored and that the contractor was not present.
The audit report notes, “Value for money from the spending in relation of the halted project could not be identified.”
Despite the fact that Kwekwe described the hasty contract award as an anomaly and stated that her department “commits to fully adhere to the laid down procurement laws and regulations in undertaking similar projects and contractual obligations in the future,” the committee believes it was an illegality that should be investigated.
Nonetheless, she informed the committee that the prison’s urgent need for the perimeter wall justified the haste to sign the contract.
“The prison holds very high-risk prisoners and has only one wall. This is what I gathered from colleagues,” Kwekwe said.
MPs demanded that she discloses a list of the company’s current and previous directors.
She couldn’t say whether it had been prequalified for the job prior to the tender announcement, as required by procurement rules.
The PS, on the other hand, ran into difficulties when she failed to explain to the committee why the wall reconstruction had taken so long.
“When the contract was being given, it was an emergency,” Suna West MP Peter Masara remarked.
You even employed a restricted tendering technique to award it, and the entire amount was paid in record time. So, when the wall fell down, it was no longer an emergency? “How has the situation changed?”
Public Works officers from Coast were not involved in the construction of the perimeter wall, according to the committee, and those in charge of the project were from Nairobi.
Following the collapse of the wall, Transport principal secretary appointed three officers from the ministry to produce a report, but the committee’s auditors have yet to view it.