• The nine-member committee was formed on September 9, 2019 to find out whether the taxpayer was ripped off.
• During its tenure, the committee, which was initially given 45 days to complete the job, sought and was given five extensions.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
More than Sh30 million of taxpayers' money was lost in investigations into the controversial medical equipment project by a Senate committee.
On Tuesday, senators shot down the report by their ad hoc committee that investigated the Medical Equipment Scheme (MES) for a year.
The nine-member committee was formed on September 9, 2019, to find out if the taxpayer was ripped off.
“When we do such a detailed report and members decide to shoot it down, then there is little we can do. We leave it like that if that is the Kenya we want,” committee member Mwangi Githiomi said.
He is the Nyandarua Senator.
The committee tabled its 395-page report early last month in which it concluded that the project was conceived like a criminal enterprise.
But senators rejected the report, saying it was generic and full generalities.
“This report looks like a letter of lamentation because the way recommendations have been done is based on observing issues. It is like shooting the blanks,” Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said.
The Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo-led committee held more than 100 sittings and even travelled to the Netherlands for five days investigating the project.
Its other members were Moses Wetang'ula (Bungoma), Enock Wambua (Kitui), Stewart Madzayo (Kilifi), Christopher Langat (Bomet) and nominated senators Millicent Omanga and Mary Seneta.
According to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission rates circular on sitting allowances of members of Parliament, a parliamentary committee chairperson is entitled to Sh10,000 sitting allowance, vice chairperson Sh8,000 and ordinary member Sh5,000.
With the committee holding more than 100 sittings, its means the chairperson alone pocketed Sh1 million in sitting allowance and the vice-chairman Sh800,000.
Each of the seven ordinary members earned Sh500,000.
In total the committee members spent Sh5.3 million on sitting allowances alone.
During their trip to the Netherlands, the home of M/s Philips Medical Systems which supplied Intensive Care Unit (ICU) equipment worth Sh3.6 billion, each member was paid Sh79,868 per diem for five days.
The amount excluded return flight cost to Amsterdam.
In addition, the taxpayers paid for transport, accommodation and meals during members field visits to West Pokot, Isiolo, Meru, Trans Nzoia, Mombasa and Nairobi.
The amount does not include what was paid to the parliamentary staff — committee clerks, sergeant-at-arms, personal assistants and security details — for support services.
The committee was initially given 45 days to complete the job, but it sought and obtained at least five extensions.
The first extension was on November 12, 2019, followed by another on January 2, after its term expired on December 26, 2019. At the time, the committee was granted a 45-day extension to conclude the investigation in March.
In March, the committee sought another 60-day extension to July 14 and an additional 21 days to conclude the report.
Millions were spent on the numerous extensions, sittings, examination of witnesses, local travel, foreign travels and miscellaneous expenses.
- mwaniki fm