• Lowest bidder was rejected for failure to meet requirement, ex-PS Iringo says.
• Government spent Sh1.1 more to put police and prison officers under insurance.
• Juma and Iringo defend deal as above board.
Image: FILE
Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma has asked Parliament to expunge her name from an incriminating report as focus shifted to ex-Interior PS Mutea Iringo over the Sh 1.7 billion police insurance saga.
Juma yesterday told the Public Accounts Committee that she was not the PS when the controversial deal was negotiated and concluded.
She said the two-year deal was signed on August 12, 2014 while President Uhuru Kenyatta announced her appointment two days later. She took over on August 20.
The CS said the controversy around the contract could be well explained by former PS Iringo who executed the deal.
“I plead with PAC to, in the light of the clarifications and facts at hand, review its decision and expunge my name from the report accordingly,” Juma said.
Auditor General Edward Ouko questioned the contract, saying the lowest bidder who quoted Sh629, 019, 316 was bypassed and the tender awarded to one who quoted Sh1, 747, 209, 700.
This showed the country spend Sh1,118,190,384 more to put police and prison officers in a group insurance cover.
Iringo who also appeared before the oversight team defended the deal, saying it was above board and the public got value for money.
He clarified the purported lowest bidder did not meet all the mandatory requirements of the tender and was disqualified.
The ex-PS said the disqualified bidder failed to duly fill the tender form and did not indicate the position of the signatory in the organisation, which was mandatory.
“The lowest bidder was unresponsive in accordance with section 64 (1) which states that a tender is responsive if it conforms to all the mandatory requirements in the tender documents,” Iringo said.
PAC chairman Opiyo Wandayi put Juma to task over the action she took after Ouko’s report raised fears of a possible flawed deal.
“You are an accounting officer with enormous responsibility. You have a duty of care in regards to safeguarding public money. You go into office and in the process of implementation an audit is undertaken and they go further do a report which indicts the state department on the report. Did it bother your conscience that the project could be having issues?” Wandayi posed.
Juma defended the deal, saying she had no reason to suspect the contract as there was no complaint from any quarter.
“When I came in, there was no indication that there was a problem with the contract. I have no reason to impute illegality in this contract because my understanding was that due process was followed,” she said.
The CS and Iringo were among high ranking state officers fingered by the oversight team’s report, a decision that could injure their career if Parliament adopts the report.
Yesterday, Juma appeared before PAC to clear her name after complaining that the committee condemned her without hearing her side of the story.
Iringo was serving as the PS when the Sh1.7 billion contract was signed while Juma oversaw its implementation.
Apart from the alleged tender flaw, PAC’s report also said the contract was hurriedly signed against the law.
The committee recommended that the EACC and DCI should investigate the entire procurement process.