• The 2017-18 report on the financial operations of the county laid bare the irregularities and illegalities committed by the procurement and finance officers
• The Senate committee called upon the EACC to investigate the queries after the county boss failed to satisfactorily respond to them.
Procurement irregularities that rocked Garissa county have come back to haunt Governor Ali Korane.
The Senate has called on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to act. The Public Accounts and Investments Committee recommended a probe after the county chief failed to ‘satisfactorily’ respond to the audit queries, which exposed rot in Garissa's procurement system.
The decision came after Korane appeared before the committee chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang to respond to queries raised by Auditor General Edward Ouko.
Already, the anti-graft commission is probing several county officers in relation to procurement and illegal hiring of staff.
Korane was taken to task to explain why nearly every project initiated by his administration was awarded illegally and why most of the projects had stalled or are behind schedule.
The 2017-18 report highlighted the irregularities and illegalities committed by the procurement and finance officers.
“I want to call upon the EACC to take up these matters because they have not been responded to, to the satisfaction of this committee,” Kajwang said.
In the report, Ouko queried projects initiated by Garissa worth more than Sh148 million in the year under review. More than six projects had stalled, it says.
They include a warehouse at Garissa Referral Hospital and town beautification.
The committee questioned why the county irregularly awarded a contractor and paid Sh53.05 million for rehabilitation and civil works, which lacked project completion dates. The works include the extension of Kotile water supply and drilling of Dogobo borehole.
In the contract agreement, the bill of quantities summary, supervision and monitoring cost was also not supported by the evaluation committee as required by law.
“There was no accounting officer’s recommendation or any other reason for the use of restricted tendering required by Section 102 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2015 for the proposed extension of Kotile Water supply to Alijarire and Hubi in Ijaara sub-county,” the report reads.
But Korane said the county opted for restricted tendering because of the emergency caused by prolonged drought in the county at the time. He said his officers had since sought and attached supporting documents for the contract.
“Therefore, the department was not in a position to use the open tender method and for this project,” he said.
The committee pressed him to explain why there are no notes by accounting to recommend the method and why he had not produced the supporting documents during the audit.
“Why were these documents not provided then? ... If you give it to us now and you did not give it to the auditors, then we reach the conclusion that you are busy manufacturing them to satisfy the queries,” Kajwang said.
He admitted his officers had delayed submitting the documents.
The auditor questioned the Sh27.54 million that was paid to a contractor for the construction of subcounty offices at Garissa Township and Masalani town.
The committee also demanded to know why Sh26.07 million Bambambala-Denyere road had not been completed more than a year after the expected completion date.
The said there were "challenges", adding that some contractors delayed the projects. The senators disputed the explanation.
(Edited by N. Mbugua)